“Statistical Analysis System” is what SAS stands for. It is a software package created by SAS Institute Inc. and used for business intelligence, data management, and statistical analysis. The program comes with a variety of tools and applications for jobs including reporting, data processing, and predictive modeling. SAS is well-known for its sophisticated features and approachable user interface and is used extensively in a variety of sectors, including banking, healthcare, and government. Let us know about ‘What Does SAS Mean for Data Analytics?’.
What Does SAS Mean for Data Analytics?
SAS was first made available in 1972. (almost 50 years ago). On August 18, 2020, SAS is finished with its stable release. It is possible to write this in C. Numerous operating systems, including Windows, the IBM mainframe, Unix/Linux, and Open VFM Alpha, are supported by SAS.
SAS software can perform significant operations on data, including data mining, management, modification, and acquisition from many sources. Non-technical people may access data by pointing at and clicking on a graphic thanks to SAS Language. For analyzing, modifying, and retrieving data, SAS provides DATA steps and PROC steps. Each phase consists of many statements that perform various data operations.
DATA steps are made up of declarative statements that can be used to read a data collection and alter how the data appears as well as steps that can be used to run software on data.
Two stages make up the DATA step. Compilation and execution come first.
Declarative statements that catch syntax problems are used throughout the compilation step.
The execution phase involves the executable stages in order
DATA action
In addition to being organized in tabular form, each item of data has a description and value. Rows are referred to as “observant,” while columns are known as “variables.”
PROC step
These PROC statements are also known as procedural statements. PROC carries out data processing, data analytics, and data graphical and statistical representation. The more than 300 named procedures all carry out their respective programming and statistical functions. In addition to performing various data operations, these PROC commands may sort data and show results.
Even those without any programming skills can use SAS. The user may obtain SAS data in a variety of forms via ODS, including HTML, PDF, Excel, and RTF (Output Delivery System). SAS either automatically conducts data operations or creates code to alter the data.
Fundamental elements of SAS
- Base SAS: It is the SAS component that is utilized the most frequently. It is the primary component that houses the data management system and the data analysis software.
- SAS/GRAPH: This part helps with graph construction and shows the data in a way that makes it easier to grasp.
- SAS/SAT: Regression, multivariate, psychometric, and mixed model statistical analyses are carried out using SAS/SAT.
- SAS/OR: It does data-driven operational research.
- SAS/ETS: Econometrics and time-series analysis are performed with SAS/ETS.
- SAS/IML: Based on the data, it generates an interactive matrix.
- SAS/AF: It offers an application facility.
- SAS/QC: This subsystem offers quality assurance.
- SAS/Insight: Data mining is aided by SAS/Insight;
- SAS/Enterprise miner: The other component, also performs the same functions.
- SAS/PH: This carries out an analysis of clinical trials.
Types of SAS
There are primarily five different types of SAS software for Windows or PC. SAS
SAS Enterprise Miner for Predictive Analysis, often known as SAS EM SAS Mean SAS Stats or just SAS Enterprise Guide
Linux Because SAS lacks a graphical user interface, users must write programs for each query. As a result, most users utilize Windows SAS, which offers a variety of tools to users that can assist users to shorten programming times. Windows SAS is divided into five components. It’s them,
- Log Window: This shows program execution together with a log window that shows program errors, much like an execution window does. To guarantee proper program comprehension, it is essential to check the log window while the program is executing.
- Editor Window: This window functions as a notepad for entering query codes.
- Output Window: The program’s output is shown in the output window.
- Result Window: The outputs from running particular programs are all collected in the result window. The output window stores the results of each session that is being performed, and when switching to another session, the output window displays the results of the current window. By selecting the output result, this Result Window may be used as an index of all the programs that have already been run. The Result Window will be empty and devoid of any output results if we restart the app.
- The Explore Window: It presents all of the various windows for you to pick from the following software.
SAS Libraries
SAS libraries are used to store applications with comparable functionality. The ability to construct different libraries dependent on the user is a feature of SAS.
Libraries come in two varieties,
- Short-Term Library: The Work library is another name for the temporary library. It may be found in the SAS software’s Explore window. By default, the Work library holds all of the active programs. There is a requirement to assign a permanent library to the program since the work library only lasts as long as the session if the user hasn’t given any permanent libraries to the programs and stops the session after examining the programs again.
- Permanent Library: The application is created and saved in permanent libraries, where it will be accessible for as long as the user wants it to be present while the session is active. By utilizing the tools and entering text in the editor window, this SAS library may be produced.
Programming SAS
As was previously said, this SAS contains three essential phases, including the Output step.
Data Step, Processing Step, and Output Step
Data Phase: The user’s data is entered into a SAS Dataset in this step to compute the values of the data and assign variables to them.
By processing, comparing, and validating the data, it develops new datasets and confirms the data.
Syntax
DATA data_set_name; #Give a name to the dataset
INPUT var1,var2,var3; #Declare variables in the dataset.
NEW_VAR; #Define new variables.
LABEL; #Give variables a label
DATA LINES; #Provide data
RUN;
The major noteworthy action in the data stage is to provide a program with a specific RUN statement to continue running.
PROC Step: It executes user-defined operations to process data or functions to generate output and provides feedback to the user.
Syntax
PROC procedure_name options; #The name of the proc.
RUN;
Output Step: This is used to display the results or reports back to the user with conditional output statements.
Syntax
PROC PRINT DATA = data_set;
OPTIONS;
RUN;
Advantages
- SAS simplicity in managing huge databases.
- Any type of data is accessible to SAS.
- This can be extensive and debugged with ease.
- gives the information in a statistical format, which is helpful for non-programmers.
- SAS can extensively test or examine the algorithm.
- Even non-programmers may easily program it because of its simple syntax.
Disadvantages
- SAS’s licensing fees are quite expensive for both people and businesses, and it is not an open-source program.
- SAS text mining is challenging.
Alternatives of SAS
There are a few SAS alternatives available for data analytics. They are Python and R.
R: R is open-source software that is simple to use and has powerful statistical features, much like SAS.
Python: To do statistical procedures, use Python. The Numpy, matplotlib, and Scipy packages are all available for Python. It is simple to examine the data using these libraries, and the user may utilize these libraries to build his model here.
Conclusion
In summary, SAS is a powerful tool for data analytics. SAS can help make sense of complex datasets and is a reliable and efficient solution to handle large amounts of data. Due to its user-friendly interface and reliable results, SAS is a helpful tool for companies or organizations looking to analyze data successfully. As a result, this website provides succinct details regarding SAS, it is functioning, and SAS programming, as well as syntaxes, SAS advantages, SAS disadvantages, and SAS alternatives.
