Editing SAS (software) (section)

==Technical overview and terminology==
SAS is a software suite that can [[Data mining|mine]], alter, manage and retrieve data from a variety of sources and perform statistical analysis on it.<ref name="encycl"/> SAS provides a graphical point-and-click user interface for non-technical users and more through the [[SAS language]].<ref name="encycl">{{Cite book | title = Encyclopedia of Research Design | doi = 10.4135/9781412961288 | year = 2010 | isbn = 9781412961271 | last1 = Salkind | first1 = Neil }}</ref>

SAS programs have DATA steps, which retrieve and manipulate data, PROC (procedures) which analyze the data, and may also have functions.<ref name="court"/> Each step consists of a series of statements.<ref name="DelwicheSlaughter2012">
{{cite book
| author1=Delwiche, Lora D.
| author2=Susan J. Slaughter
| title=The Little SAS Book: A Primer: a Programming Approach
| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WtZZ6sYA2_QC&pg=PA6|year=2012
| publisher=SAS Institute
| isbn=978-1-61290-400-9
| pages=6}}</ref>

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.<ref name="court"/> 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.<ref name="Li2013">
{{cite book
| author=Li, Arthur
| title=Handbook of SAS DATA Step Programming
| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kBL_aEB6RX0C&pg=PA149
| date=10 April 2013
| publisher=CRC Press
| isbn=978-1-4665-5238-8|page=149}}</ref> 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.<ref name="court">
{{cite court
| litigants =SAS Institute Inc. and World Programming Limited
| court =England and Wales High Court (Chancery Division)
| date =July 23, 2010
| url=http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Ch/2010/1829.html#para36 }}</ref><ref>
{{cite web
| first =Debbie
| last =Buck
| title =A Hands-On Introduction to SAS DATA Step Programming
| publisher =SAS Institute
| location =SUGI 30
| url =http://www2.sas.com/proceedings/sugi30/134-30.pdf
| access-date =October 2, 2013}}</ref>

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.<ref name="court"/> PROC statements can also display results, sort data or perform other operations.<ref name="DelwicheSlaughter2012"/>

SAS macros are pieces of code or variables that are coded once and referenced to perform repetitive tasks.<ref name="BassSolutions2007">
{{cite book
| author1=Bass, N. Jyoti
| author2=K. Madhavi Lata & Kogent Solutions
| title=Base Sas Programming Black Book, 2007 Ed
| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o9nVu8Xsd6kC&pg=PA365
| date=1 September 2007
| publisher=Dreamtech Press
| isbn=978-81-7722-769-7
| pages=365–}}</ref>

SAS data can be published in HTML, PDF, Excel, RTF and other formats using the Output Delivery System, which was first introduced in 2007.<ref>
{{cite journal
| last =Tolbert
| first =William
| title =How to Win Friends and Influence People with the SAS Output Delivery System
| journal =Clinical Medicine & Research
| volume =8
| issue =3–4
| pages =189–190
| date =December 1, 2010
| doi =10.3121/cmr.2010.943.c-c1-04 | pmc =3006529
}}</ref> SAS Enterprise Guide is SAS's point-and-click interface. It generates code to manipulate data or perform analysis without the use of the SAS programming language.<ref>
{{cite journal
| last =Der
| first =G.
| author2=B. S. Everitt
| title =Basic Statistics using SAS Enterprise Guide
| journal =Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A
| volume =172
| issue =2
| page =530
| date =March 10, 2009
| doi =10.1111/j.1467-985X.2009.00588_2.x 
| doi-access =free
}}</ref>

{{anchor|Components}}The SAS software suite has more than 200 add-on packages, sometimes called components<ref name="Schermerhorn2011">{{cite book|author=John R. Schermerhorn|title=Exploring Management|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qNVP2L6iKi0C&pg=SL3-PA22|date=11 October 2011|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-0-470-87821-7|pages=3}}</ref><ref name="berk">
{{cite web
| publisher=University of California, Berkeley
| title=An Introduction to the SAS System
| first=Phil
| last= Spector
| url=https://www.stat.berkeley.edu/classes/s100/sas.pdf
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012065352/http://www.stat.berkeley.edu/classes/s100/sas.pdf
| archive-date=October 12, 2013
| access-date=October 4, 2013}}</ref><ref>
{{cite web
| url=http://www.nesug.org/Proceedings/nesug12/ma/ma10.pdf
| title=Determine what SAS Version and Components are available
| first=David
| last=Chapman
| publisher=NESUG
| year=2012}}</ref> Some of these SAS components, i.e. add on packages to Base SAS include:<ref name="encycl"/>
<ref>
{{Cite journal | last1 = Hallahan | first1 = C. | title = Data Analysis Using SAS | doi = 10.1177/0049124195023003006 | journal = Sociological Methods & Research | volume = 23 | issue = 3 | pages = 373–391 | year = 1995 | s2cid = 62723637 }}</ref>
{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|* SAS/STAT – Statistical analysis

* SAS/GRAPH – Graphics and presentation

* SAS/OR – Operations research

* SAS/ETS – [[Econometrics]] and [[Time Series Analysis]]

* SAS/IML – Interactive matrix language

* SAS/AF – Applications facility

* SAS/QC – Quality control

* SAS/INSIGHT – [[Data mining]]

* SAS/PH – [[Clinical trial]] analysis

* SAS Enterprise Miner – data mining

* SAS Enterprise Guide – GUI-based code editor & project manager

* SAS Enterprise BI – Suite of [[business intelligence]] applications 

* SAS Grid Manager – Manager of SAS grid computing environment

* SAS Customer Intelligence 360 – Customer intelligence}}