SAS (software)
SAS (previously "Statistical Analysis System")[1] is a statistical software suite developed by SAS Institute for data management, advanced analytics, multivariate analysis, business intelligence, criminal investigation,[2] and predictive analytics.
SAS was developed at North Carolina State University from 1966 until 1976, when SAS Institute was incorporated. SAS was further developed in the 1980s and 1990s with the addition of new statistical procedures, additional components and the introduction of JMP. A point-and-click interface was added in version 9 in 2004. A social media analytics product was added in 2010.
Technical overview and terminology
SAS is a software suite that can mine, alter, manage and retrieve data from a variety of sources and perform statistical analysis on it.[3] SAS provides a graphical point-and-click user interface for non-technical users and more through the SAS language.[3]
SAS programs have DATA steps, which retrieve and manipulate data, PROC (procedures) which analyze the data, and may also have functions.[4] Each step consists of a series of statements.[5]
The DATA step has executable statements that result in the software taking an action, and declarative statements that provide instructions to read a data set or alter the data's appearance.[4] The DATA step has two phases: compilation and execution. In the compilation phase, declarative statements are processed and syntax errors are identified. Afterwards, the execution phase processes each executable statement sequentially.[6] Data sets are organized into tables with rows called "observations" and columns called "variables". Additionally, each piece of data has a descriptor and a value.[4][7]
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PROC statements call upon named procedures. Procedures perform analysis and reporting on data sets to produce statistics, analyses, and graphics. There are more than 300 named procedures and each one performs a substantial body of statistical work.[4] PROC statements can also display results, sort data or perform other operations.[5]
SAS macros are pieces of code or variables that are coded once and referenced to perform repetitive tasks.[8]
SAS data can be published in HTML, PDF, Excel, RTF and other formats using the Output Delivery System, which was first introduced in 2007.[9] SAS Enterprise Guide is SAS's point-and-click interface. It generates code to manipulate data or perform analysis without use of the SAS programming language.[10]
The SAS software suite has more than 200 add-on packages, sometimes called components[11][12][13] Some of these SAS components, i.e. add on packages to Base SAS include:[3] [14]