I have been a SAS user for more than 20 years and an S-PLUS user for 5 years. I have taken two S-PLUS classes.
The main area that I see where S-PLUS is useful is in producing nice quality production graphics, i.e., graphs for use in Word and/or PowerPoint. I have compared the same graphs produced by both SAS and S-PLUS and evertime the the S-PLUS graph looks better in Word and/or PowerPoint. I have tried all kinds of graphs in SAS -- .tiff, .cgm, etc. None of them ever look as good as was S-PLUS produces. On the other hand, for producing reports in a regulated environment, I stick with SAS. I would only use S-PLUS for a presentation and not for producing a report that would go to a regulatory agency like the FDA. As a SAS programmer for more than 20 years, I find the programming in S (the language that S-PLUS uses) to be a challenge. Yes, S-PLUS does have a GUI that can get you started, but to really get the graph that you want you will need to use the command line (which means that you need to know the S language). The challenge in using the S language is that it is quite different than SAS. By the way, I don't like manipulating data in S-PLUS. So, I generally do all of my data manipulations in SAS and create the dataset that I will use in S-PLUS using SAS. S-PLUS can read a variety of file formats including SAS transport files. However, I generally find that S-PLUS works well with Excel files. So, I normally export my SAS dataset to Excel and then use the Excel file with S-PLUS. Carey G. Smoak Senior Clinical Programmer Analyst Roche Molecular Systems, Inc. Pleasanton, CA [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Sue Turner) wrote in message news:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>... > XLSolutions Corporation (www.xlsolutions-corp.com) is pleased to > announce a two-day course, "Splus/R: Complementing and Extending > Statistical Computing for SAS Users" www.xlsolutions-corp.com/Rsas.htm > > Dates/City: October 9-10, 2003 in Washington DC > October 2-3, 2003 in Princeton, NJ > October 2-3, 2003 in Boston, MA > > This course is designed for SAS users who want to learn how to complement > and extend statistical computing with Splus and/or R system. > The course will give participants a strong foundation for becoming > a versatile programmer. > > Course Description: > > This two-day course focuses on a broad spectrum of topics: > > *Data manipulations in S and R (data frame and matrix operations) > and SAS (the data step) -- issues of importing, formatting, transformation, > cataloging, exporting > *Splus/R Functions vs macros in SAS for programming repetitive processes. > *The iteration models of SAS vs whole-object modeling > *Specific comparison: linear modeling, glms, gees, lmes. > *etc > > Complete course description: www.xlsolutions-corp.com/Rsas.htm > > > Earlybird ends September 30th. > > Ask for group discount! > > Registration: > > Email Sue Turner: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Phone: 206-686-1578 x221 > > > > > Share Your Thoughts: > > Are there any additional topics you would like for this course to address? > Would you like for this course to be offered in another city? > > Please let us know by contributing to our recommendation list: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > ======================================================================== > > Pre-registration Form > > Please email the following details with the course code: R2SASBoston > XLsolutions Corporation: For your Solutions needs, Consulting and Training. > www.xlsolutions-corp.com > > > > Title...... First Name ................. Last Name.................... > > Organization.......................................................... > > Mailing Address....................................................... > > .................................................................... > > .................................................................... > > Zip Code...................... Country............................. > > Telephone........................... Fax ............................... > > E-mail................................................................ > > Payment will be made by: (1) check (2) invoice (3) credit card > > > > Elvis Miller, PhD > Manager Training and Technical Support > North American Division > XLSolutions Corporation > Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Phone: 206-686-1578 > Web: www.xlsolutions-corp.com . . ================================================================= Instructions for joining and leaving this list, remarks about the problem of INAPPROPRIATE MESSAGES, and archives are available at: . http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/ . =================================================================
