Since this thread has come up again, I think a correction to some of the
earlier postings is in order.
Some posters have indicated that R is a programming language and SAS is
not. This is not true. Both R and SAS are programming languages. I would
not say that one is a better language than the other any more than I
would say that French is a better language than Russian. Each has
advantages and disadvantages.
John
John Sorkin M.D., Ph.D.
Chief, Biostatistics and Informatics
Baltimore VA Medical Center GRECC and
University of Maryland School of Medicine Claude Pepper OAIC
University of Maryland School of Medicine
Division of Gerontology
Baltimore VA Medical Center
10 North Greene Street
GRECC (BT/18/GR)
Baltimore, MD 21201-1524
410-605-7119
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>>> Indrajit Sengupta <[log in to unmask]> 04/26/06 2:13 AM >>>
Sorry for joining a bit late. After reading all the
mails I just couldn't help myself sending one more.
I had started learning R from college days and was
more than satisfied with its capabilities.
But after graduating when I started working as
business analyst I found that SAS in today's world is
a must.
The data handling capabilities in SAS are unmatched.
Whereas the language in R is more object oriented,
similar to most programming langauges, the langauge
used in SAS is very different. The reason why SAS is
so popular in the Analytics industry is because of its
data handling capabilities. 60% of total effort in any
industry level project usually goes in manipulating
and transforming the data. SAS was created keeping
this requirement in mind. The precision in
computations is much much more in SAS in comparison to
any other.
I feel if your work is research oriented, go for R
because R is more flexible and it is free. But note
that R is not that efficient in handling huge
datasets.
Whereas if your work is mainly data handling and
analysis, and you have the scope of investing huge
amount of money go for SAS.
Indrajit Sen Gupta
Business Analyst
Mu Sigma Business Solutions Pvt Ltd
#21/1-1, Nawab Towers
Cunningham Road
Bangalore 560 052, India
Tel: +91 80 5123 2551
Fax: +91 80 5123 8853
Mob: +91 98807 54816
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www.mu-sigma.com
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