SAS for R Users

1About SAS and R

Here is a brief introduction about R and SAS,instructions about installations and a broad high‐level comparison.

1.1 About SAS

SAS used to be called the Statistical Analysis System Software suite developed by the SAS Institute for advanced analytics, business intelligence, data management, and predictive analytics. Developed at North Carolina State University from 1966 until 1976, when the SAS Institute was incorporated. It was then further developed in the 1980s and 1990s with the additional statistical procedures and components. SAS is a language, a software suite and a company created by Anthony James Barr and James Goodnight along with two others. For purposes of this book we will use SAS for SAS computer language.

• SAS also provides a graphical point and click user interface for non‐technical users.

While a graduate student in statistics at North Carolina State University, James Goodnight wrote a computer program for analyzing agricultural data. After a few years, James's application had attracted a diverse and loyal following among its users, and the program's data management and reporting capabilities had expanded beyond James's original intentions.

In 1976, he decided to work at developing and marketing his product on a full‐time basis, and the SAS Institute was founded. Since its beginning, a distinguishing feature of the company has been its attentiveness to users of the software. Today, the SAS Institute is the world's largest privately‐held software ...