SAS - Statistical Analysis System

The Statistical Analysis System is known as SAS is one of the most popular statistical software for all types of data analysis. It is a general purpose statistical package designed for both interactive, non-interactive and batch user. SAS is business intelligence software, you need to solve complex business problems, achieve important goals and more effectively manage your information assets.

SAS is powered by SAS programs that define a scene of operations to be performed on data stored as tables. Although non-programmer, graphical user interfaces to SAS exist (such as SAS Enterprise Guide), most of the time these GUIs are merely a front-end to automate or facilitate generation of SAS programs. SAS components expose their functionality via application programming interfaces, in the form of statements and procedures.

The origin of SAS dates back to the mid-1960s. Originally started by Anthony Barr, the concept was based on the use of algebraic formulas to transform raw data into usable form. After a few years at Barr continued refining the process of his creation then began working with James Goodnight expanding context. After entering the 1970s the idea of SAS had begun to cross over to the business, during which more and more people came on board to develop and improve the system. In 1976 SAS Institute Inc. was born to make the scheme more widely available.

The software included in typical SAS system provides tools for all types of projects and daily tasks. Writing reports and creating graphics is easy using the tools provided. Research and project management software tools for creating both operational and marketing strategies. Tools that allows for quick and efficient data entry and retrieval make it possible to collect statistical data or other information about reports in a quick time. SAS usually contain components that will support the departmental functions, ranging from information systems support for human resources management and customer self-care protocols. 

SAS scores of statistical and mathematical functions, the evaluation of statistical

methods, macro facility, very flexible data management capabilities, and excellent programming abilities. SAS can read data in almost any format (eg, numeric, alphanumeric, binary, dollar, date, time formats) and can read files created using spreadsheet / database software. It also has excellent data manipulation utilities.

Listed below are some of the features in SAS:

-Data transformations programming capacity macro-facility-Matrix manipulation-

Descriptive Statistics-Contingency tables-Correlation-T test Univariate & Multivariate ANOVA-General Linear Regression Model Nonlinear Regression-Logistic Regression-Probit Analysis-Discriminant Analysis, Factor Analysis Cluster-Analysis Multidimensional scaling-Forecasting/Time Series Nonparametric analysis graphics and graphical user interface.

SAS has very few known bugs. Errors are corrected in an expeditious manner as soon as they are reported. SAS offers an extensive online help in the Display Manager Mode SAS on microcomputers also have extensive help utility. 

SAS Release 6.0 and higher is considered one of the leading statistical software applications. Graphical interface, multi-engine architecture, etc. are a few examples of the latest technology in software. The latest version is SAS v9.1 still has the same features of previous versions along with a few new features, so you can get the most out of your data. SAS is pretty easy to learn. Explanation for keywords and subcommands are available via online help.

A SAS program is composed of three major parts, the DATA step procedure steps (effectively, everything that is not enclosed in a DATA step), and a macro language. SAS Library Engines and Library Services provides remote access to data stored in external data structures and on remote computer platforms.

DATA-step part of a SAS program, like other database-oriented fourth-generation programming languages such as SQL or Focus, assuming a standard file structure, and automates the process of identifying files to the operating system, opening the input file, reads the next record opening the output file, write the next record, and closing files. This gives the user / programmer to concentrate on the details of the work with data in each record actually works almost exclusively within an implicit program loop that runs for each record.

All other functions are carried out by procedures that operate on data sets (SAS terminology for "table") as a whole. Typical tasks include printing or performing statistical analysis, and may only require that the user / programmer to identify the dataset. Procedures are not restricted to only one problem, and thus allow a comprehensive adjustment, controlled by the mini-language determined by the procedures. SAS also has an extensive SQL procedure that makes SQL programmers to use the system with little additional knowledge.

There are macro programming extensions, allowing the rationalization of several parts of the program. Proper imperative and procedural programming constructs can be simulated by the use of "open code" macros or the interactive matrix language SAS / IML component.

Macro code in a SAS program, if any, examine the programming language. At runtime, the data step up and procedures are interpreted and run in the order they appear in the SAS program. A SAS program requires the SAS software to run. 

Compared to general purpose programming language, this structure allows the user / programmer to be less familiar with the technical details of the data and how it is stored, and relatively more familiar with the information contained in the data. This blurs the line between user and programmer, appealing to people who fall more into the 'business' or 'research' area and less in 'information technology' area, since SAS does not enforce (although SAS recommends) a structured, centralized approach to data and infrastructure management.

SAS runs on IBM mainframes, Unix machines, OpenVMS Alpha, and Microsoft Windows and the code is almost transparently moved between these environments. Older versions have supported PC-DOS, Apple Macintosh, VMS, VM / CMS, Data General AOS and OS / 2