Editing SAS (software) (section)

===Origins===
The development of SAS started in 1966 after [[North Carolina State University]] re-hired [[Anthony James Barr|Anthony Barr]]<ref name="NourseGreenberg1978">{{cite journal|last1=Nourse|first1=E. Shepley|last2=Greenberg|first2=Bernard G.|last3=Cox|first3=Gertrude M.|last4=Mason|first4=David D.|last5=Grizzle|first5=James E.|last6=Johnson|first6=Norman L.|last7=Jones|first7=Lyle V. |last8=Monroe |first8=John |last9=Simons|first9=Gordon D.|title=Statistical Training and Research: The University of North Carolina System |journal=International Statistical Review / Revue Internationale de Statistique|volume=46|issue=2|year=1978|page=171|issn=0306-7734 |doi=10.2307/1402812|jstor=1402812}}</ref> to program his analysis of variance and regression software so that it would run on [[IBM System/360]] computers.<ref name="AgrestiMeng2012">{{cite book|author1=Alan Agresti|author2=Xiao-Li Meng|title=Strength in Numbers: The Rising of Academic Statistics Departments in the U.S.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kPGJUiUCJZkC&pg=PA177|date=2 November 2012|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-1-4614-3649-2 |page=177}}</ref> The project was funded by the [[National Institutes of Health]].<ref name="fda"/> and was originally intended to analyze agricultural data<ref name="berk"/><ref name="“little">{{cite news|title=Little-known software giant to raise its profile |first=Emery |last=Dalesio |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1916&dat=20010505&id=nPpIAAAAIBAJ&sjid=oAUNAAAAIBAJ&pg=3476,727402 |date=May 5, 2001|publisher=Associated Press|access-date=April 8, 2014}}</ref> to improve crop yields.<ref name="seventyeight">{{cite news |first=David |last=Kaplan |newspaper=Fortune |url=https://money.cnn.com/2010/01/21/technology/sas_best_companies.fortune/|title=SAS: A new no. 1 best employer|date=January 22, 2010 |access-date=April 8, 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111129010236/http://money.cnn.com/2010/01/21/technology/sas_best_companies.fortune/ |archive-date=November 29, 2011}}</ref> Barr was joined by student [[James Goodnight]], who developed the software's statistical routines, and the two became project leaders.<ref name="NourseGreenberg1978"/><ref name="AgrestiMeng2012"/><ref name="timeline"/> In 1968, Barr and Goodnight integrated new [[multiple regression]] and [[analysis of variance]] routines.<ref name="Attr76">{{cite journal |first=Anthony |last=Barr |author2=James Goodnight |title=The SAS Staff|year=1976|quote=SAS 72 and SAS 76 are attributed to Barr, Goodnight, Service, Perkins, and Helwig}}</ref><ref>(Barr & Goodnight et al. 1979:front matter) Attribution of the development of various parts of the system to Barr, Goodnight, and Sall.</ref> In 1972, after issuing the first release of SAS, the project lost its funding.<ref name="fda">{{cite web |title=SAS Institute FDA Intellectual Partnership for Efficient Regulated Research Data Archival and Analyses |url=https://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dockets/00n0001/ts00016.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000824120039/http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dockets/00n0001/ts00016.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 24, 2000 |publisher=Duke University|date=April 12, 2000|access-date=September 28, 2011}}</ref> According to Goodnight, this was because NIH only wanted to fund projects with medical applications.<ref name="intervieww">{{cite web|title=Oral History Interview with Jim Goodnight|date=July 22, 1999|url=http://docsouth.unc.edu/sohp/I-0073/excerpts/excerpt_976.html|access-date=April 8, 2014|publisher=Oral Histories of the American South}}</ref> Goodnight continued teaching at the university for a salary of $1 and access to mainframe computers for use with the project,<ref name="fda"/> until it was funded by the [[University Statisticians of the Southern Experiment Stations]] the following year.<ref name="AgrestiMeng2012"/><ref name="intervieww"/> [[John Sall]] joined the project in 1973 and contributed to the software's econometrics, time series, and matrix algebra. Another early participant, Caroll G. Perkins, contributed to SAS' early programming. Jolayne W. Service and Jane T. Helwig created SAS's first documentation.<ref name="Attr76"/>

The first versions of SAS, from SAS 71 to SAS 82, were named after the year in which they were released.<ref name="expert">{{cite web
| title=History of SAS version
| url=http://www.globalstatements.com/sas/differences/
| publisher=Global Statements|first=Rick|last=Aster
| access-date=October 4, 2013}}</ref> In 1971, SAS 71 was published as a limited release.<ref name="encycl"/><ref>
{{cite book
| first=Anthony|last=Barr |author2=James Goodnight |author3=James Howard
| publisher=North Carolina State University|year=1971
| title=Statistical analysis system
|oclc=5728643 }}</ref> It was used only on IBM mainframes and had the main elements of SAS programming, such as the DATA step and the most common procedures, i.e. PROCs.<ref name="expert"/> The following year a full version was released as SAS 72, which introduced the MERGE statement and added features for handling missing data or combining data sets.<ref>{{cite book
| last=Service
| first=Jolayne
| title=A User's Guide to the Statistical Analysis System
| publisher=North Carolina State University
| year=1972
| url=http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/oclc/1325510
| access-date=2006-10-16
| archive-date=2007-09-29
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929121443/http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/oclc/1325510
| url-status=dead
}}</ref> The development of SAS has been described{{by whom|date=May 2025}} as an "[[inflection point]]" in the [[history of artificial intelligence]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ioannou |first=Lori |date=2019-11-04 |title=Jim Goodnight, the 'Godfather of A.I.,' predicts the future fate of the US workforce |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/04/godfather-of-ai-predicts-the-future-fate-of-the-us-workforce.html |access-date=2024-02-20 |website=CNBC |language=en}}</ref> In 1976, Barr, Goodnight, Sall, and Helwig removed the project from North Carolina State and incorporated it as the [[SAS Institute|SAS Institute, Inc.]]<ref>
{{cite magazine
| first=Mary
| last=Shacklett
| date=September 5, 2013
| url=https://www.techrepublic.com/blog/big-data-analytics/see-if-the-r-language-fits-in-your-big-data-toolkit/
| magazine=Tech Republic
| access-date=October 3, 2013
| title=See if the R language fits in your big data toolkit}}</ref>