[R] SAS and R on multiple operating systems

[Roger DeAngelis(xlr82sas)]

Hi,

This is not meant to be critical of R, but is intended as
a possible source for improvements to R.
SAS needs the competition.


I am reasonably knowledgeable about

R
SAS-(all products including IML)

SAS and R run on

Windows(all flavors)
UNIX(all flavors)
Apple OSs

Does R run on natively (no emulation)?
We have quite a few users on these systems

VAX-VMS
Z-OS (mainframe)
MVS
VM/CMS(IBM)


SAS had the notion in the 80's of a logon to SAS and
connections to mutiple operating systems simultaneously,
making all operating systems look like one.
SAS has native low level functions like dcreate(create directory), fopen,
fread..
that can be used on all operating systems eliminating
operating specific commands, like dir(windows), ls(unix) and ispf(3.4 on
mainframes).

SAS provides one IDE to multiple operating systems simultaneously.

For instance:

Run under windows(slightly simplified)

libname unx work server=unix;  /* SAS work directory on UNIX - can be a
virtual storage system like EMC */

data "c:\tmp\class.sas7bdat"; /* create sas dataset class in windows */
  set unx.class; /* dataset class is in the UNIX work directory - not
mounted in windows */
run;

or

libname xls "c:\temp\test.xls"; /* does not have to exist */

data xls.class;  /* create excel file under windows */
  set unx.class; /* remote unix system - file system not mounted in windows
*/
run;

You can mix mainframe, windows and unix.

Other functions I use all the time when coding SAS.

1. Highlight a block of code and hit F1 and the code is run
   interactivel under windows.

2. Highlight and hit F2 and the code is run
   batch under windows.

3. Highlight and hit F3 and the code is run
   interactively in unix.

4. Highlight and hit F4 and the code is run
   batch in unix.

5. Highlight "c:\tmp\class.sas7bdat" in the editor and
   hit F5 and a proc contents appears in the output window

6. Highlight "c:\tmp\class.sas7bdat" in the editor and
   hit F6 and 40 obs appear in the output window

6. Highlight "c:\tmp\class.sas7bdat" type freq name*sex and
   a frequency analysis appears in the output window.

I think the real power of SAS is the ability to run
all of SAS from command line without affecting the IDE.
I have about 50 commands that interact with the
editor and multiple operating systems to do useful work.


As far as I am concerned SAS-IML is dead.
R is much more powerful.
The key for SAS is a 'drop down to R from SAS'.
The current implementation in IML is absurd, because
you do not need IML.
SAS is resisting this because of its investment in IML.
Dataframes and SAS datasets have a lot in common.
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