SAS language

The SAS language is a computer programming language used for statistical analysis, created by Anthony James Barr at North Carolina State University.[1][2] It can read in data from common spreadsheets and databases and output the results of statistical analyses in tables, graphs, and as RTF, HTML and PDF documents. The SAS language runs under compilers that can be used on Microsoft Windows, Linux, and various other UNIX and mainframe computers. The SAS System and World Programming System (WPS) / Altair SLC are SAS language compilers.

Overview of syntax

The language is Turing-complete domain specific computer language with many of the attributes of a command language. It is narrowly focused on statistical analysis of data. The language consists of two main types of blocks: DATA blocks that introduce new datasets and PROC blocks that perform procedures on them. A simple example is the following

* COMMENT;
Data TEMP;
   input X Y Z;
   datalines;
1 2 3
5 6 7
;
run;

PROC PRINT DATA = TEMP;
RUN;

SAS scripts have the .sas extension

SAS is developed and sponsored by the SAS Institute. A competitor, World Programming System / Altair SLC has developed an interpreter and tools that allows execution of the SAS scripts.

See also

Notes
  1. SAS History, SAS Institute, archived from the original on 2013-10-23, retrieved April 4, 2014
  2. Barr & Goodnight, et al. 1976:"The SAS Staff". Attribution of contributions to SAS 72 and SAS 76.

References
  • "Overview of the SAS Language". Department of Animal Science, McGill University. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
  • Barr, A. J.; Goodnight, J. H.; Sall, J. P.; Helwig, J. T. (1976), A User's Guide to SAS 76, Raleigh, North Carolina: SAS Institute, Inc., ISBN 0-917382-01-3
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