D

DATA step

a group of statements in a SAS program that begins with a DATA statement and which ends with either a RUN statement, another DATA statement, a PROC statement, the end of the job, or the semicolon that immediately follows lines of data. The DATA step enables you to read raw data or other SAS data sets and to use programming logic to create a SAS data set, to write a report, or to write to an external file.

DCOM (Distributed Component Object Model)

an extension to the Component Object Model (COM) that enables components to request services from components that are on other computers in a network. See also component, COM (Component Object Model).

DDE (Dynamic Data Exchange)

a standard mechanism in the PC environment for sharing data among applications.

device driver

a program that controls the interaction between a computer and an external device such as a printer or a disk drive.

directory

another term for folder. See folder.

DLL (dynamic link library)

a collection of executable program modules that are loaded at run time as needed.

docking view

a view of the main SAS window in which one or more windows , such as the Explorer and Results windows , are integrated with the left side of the main SAS window.

DOS

a disk operating system for personal computers. In SAS documentation, the acronym DOS refers specifically to MS-DOS, the Microsoft disk operating system, which was developed by Microsoft for IBM.

drag

in a graphical user interface, to move an object such as an icon or a window around on a display screen. To drag the object, you usually use a mouse button to select the object, then move the move the mouse while keeping the mouse button pressed down.

dummy variable

in some statistical applications, a numeric variable whose value is limited to 1 or 0.

Dynamic Data Exchange ( DDE )

See DDE (Dynamic Data Exchange).

dynamic link library

See DLL (dynamic link library).

EBCDIC (Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code)

an 8-bit character coding scheme that includes both graphic (printable) codes and control (nonprintable) codes. See also ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange).