[R] Are you experienced in SAS ...

[Rolf Turner]

I'd just like to put in my two bob's worth:

The ***only*** thing for which I prefer SAS to R/Splus, but it's
a very important thing, is the analysis of mixed linear models.
One can do the same analyses in both languages.  The difference is
that the SAS syntax for specifying such a model, and its output, is
comprehensible to the human mind, which is what I'm equipped with.
The R/Splus syntax (which involves the bewildering notion of
``strata'') is not.

Actually, for this sort of problem, I prefer Minitab to SAS.
It has the same sytax as SAS, and is much more user-friendly.

Aside from that, R/Splus wins.  I find data manipulation far
***easier*** in R than in SAS.  SAS had ***one*** data structure:
The data frame.  You are hand-cuffed into it, and all manipulations
must be contorted to fit this structure.  In R/Splus, the sky's
the limit.  The flexibility of R/Splus puts the user in control,
and if the syntax gets unweildy, you can roll your own function
to turn a complex command into a single word.

It bears repeating that for mega-line data frames apparently SAS
can do easily things that bring R to its knees. I have no personal
experience in this regard, but.


				cheers,

					Rolf Turner

Usual email address:   rolf at math.unb.ca
Current email address: rolf at maths.uwa.edu.au
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