SAS provides a powerful
programming language with components called procedures. Procedures
enable you to perform many different types of analysis and data management
functions. Procedures also produce many different types of text-based
and graphical presentation output. Combined with other features, the
SAS language and its procedures make an immense variety of applications
possible, including the following examples:
-
Access raw data files and data
in external databases and database management systems.
-
Manage data using tools for data
entry, editing, retrieval, formatting, and conversion.
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Analyze data using descriptive
statistics, multivariate techniques, forecasting and modeling, and
linear programming.
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Present data using reports and
business and statistical graphics.
SAS is also portable
across computing environments. SAS applications function the same
and produce the same results regardless of the operating environment
on which you are running SAS to process your data. However, some features,
such as interactive windows, are not supported on all platforms.
For more information
about SAS, refer to
SAS Language Reference: Concepts.