Sorry - couldn't resist chipping in. Firstly, this sort of conversation has been done over and over again on the S-News list, and I'd look in the archives for more info.
My background: I was a SAS "statistical programmer" in the pharma industry before I joined Insightful (S-PLUS guys). I now work at Mango Solutions (an independent consulting firm) so don't feel I'm particularly biased to either S, R or SAS. IN MY OPINION, the issue of "comparing" SAS to S/R is a strange one, because the technologies had very different upbringings. The tools are also aimed at serving different jobs, and that can really sum up the differences in one sentence: SAS is a data language, S/R are analysis/visualization languages. On your point about when the different softwares were "developed", I believe both languages were developed in the 70s. The real difference is when the systems were "commercialized": SAS in the 70s, S-PLUS in the 90s. That's where the difference in "time lines" occur. As far as comparisons are concerned, I would go as far as saying that you "CAN" do everything in S/R that you can do in SAS and vice-versa. The important factor is often "how easy" it is to do those things. For example, you can create extremely complex graphics in SAS using things like Proc Annotate, but I wouldn't recommend it. This again comes back to the different aims of SAS/S/R: in my experience, data manipulation and basic reporting can be "easier" in SAS, while fitting stats models/creating graphics is far better in S/R. So, why is SAS so heavily used in (say) the pharma industry nowadays? Firstly, ask yourself how long it would take to rewrite every SAS macro/application your company uses today, or how much has been invested in SAS training over the last 10-20 years. Very often, issues such as these can dominate discussions about transferring to S/R/Whatever. Having said this, I do know a number of pharma companies who are looking to move away from SAS. The key here is to take it slowly. There's no way you can just decide to switch from SAS to S/R overnight. The best way of going from SAS to S/R is to look at replacing SAS modules gradually. For example, how about replacing SAS/GRAPH, SAS/STAT, SAS/IML, SAS/ASSIST, SAS/Access and SAS/INSIGHT with S-PLUS or R? In most countries, this will save a good deal of money which can be spent on training/consulting to ensure everyone can get up to speed with S/R. As far as the FDA is concerned, they do not support any commercial software, and I know that SAS and S-PLUS are used there. As far as providing transport files is concerned, that doesn't particularly restrict the choice of package. Plus, I can't see this standard lasting - personally I believe that CDISC (or a version of it) will catch on. www.cdisc.org for more info. At the end of the day, SAS, S and R are all good technologies, and the "best one" to use completely depends on what needs to be achieved. Sorry for the long rambling email ... I'd happily chat more about this with people "offline" ... Cheers, Rich. Mango Solutions -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Thomas Lumley Sent: 05 September 2003 14:49 To: Paul, David A Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: [R] Comparison of SAS & R/Splus On Fri, 5 Sep 2003, Paul, David A wrote: > > d. Because SAS is commercial software, a posteriori errors found in > clinical trials analyses (and due to software issues) can be > attributed by the NDA applicants to the SAS Institute. > Lawyers really like this. Of course, Splus is also commercial > and therefore does not suffer from criticism on these > grounds. > Note, however, that one of the few specific pieces of guidance the FDA gives on software is that it isn't sufficient to place your trust in commercial off-the-shelf software (and of course this is reinforced by the software licensing terms). -thomas ______________________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list https://www.stat.math.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help --- Incoming mail is certified Virus Free. ______________________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list https://www.stat.math.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help