A Gentle Introduction to Statistics Using SAS Studio. Ron Cody
for Windows and Linux is called VMware Workstation Player (formally, just called VMware Player). This is still free for non-commercial use. For Apple products, you can also run VMware Fusion (there is a fee).
Because SAS is now recommending VirtualBox for PC users, the screenshots in this book will use that product. This author has installed both VirtualBox and VMware Player and determined that once you enter the SAS Studio environment, you cannot tell the difference. The bottom line is that once you install one of the virtualization tools, all of the tasks and SAS programs will run exactly the same.
How to Download SAS University Edition
Many of you, this author included, often feel a bit nervous when downloading and installing new software. If you are in this group (probably a bit older like me), find a younger, tech-savvy person to look over your shoulder.
To obtain your free copy of SAS University Edition, use the following URL:
http://www.sas.com/universityedition
This brings up the following screen (Figure 3.1).
Figure 3.1: Obtaining SAS University Edition
Click the box labeled “Get free software” to bring up the next screen (Figure 3.2).
From here on, if you see the word “click,” assume it means left-click. Anytime a right-click is required, it will be specified.
Figure 3.2: Next Step in Obtaining SAS University Edition
Choose your operating system. Be sure to scroll down after you select your operating system to access the instructions to set up, download, configure, and use SAS University edition. (See Figure 3.3.)
Figure 3.3: The Four Steps to Installing SAS University Edition
It’s as easy as one, two, three, four! As you click on each step, you can watch a video or, if you have already read the PDF and are confident, you can begin downloading VirtualBox and SAS University Edition.
Figure 3.4: SAS Download Screen
As you scroll down in the step 1 screen, you will be offered the opportunity to load Oracle VirtualBox software. (See Figure 3.5 below.)
Figure 3.5: Download VirtualBox
Once you have downloaded the virtualization software, click on one of the links farther down on the screen, download a PDF, or watch a video (or both) giving you detailed instructions how to set up your virtualization software and SAS Studio.
When you are finished setting up VirtualBox, continue on to download and install SAS University Edition.
Figure 3.6: Download Appropriate Version of SAS University Edition
Scrolling down, you will see the following:
Figure 3.7: Instructions to Download the University Edition
All you need to do is click the Get SAS University Edition box and save the file in your download directory. If you don’t already have a SAS Profile, you will be asked to create one (it’s free). SAS University Edition is a very large file and, depending on your download speed, it could take a long time to download (even hours if your download speed is as slow as what I have in my rural Texas home).
The screen for the third step looks like this:
Figure 3.8: Configuring Your System
Continue with the instructions shown below.
Figure 3.9: Setting Up a Shared Folder
This step adds SAS University Edition to your virtual computer. The next step is very important: it shows you how to set up a shared folder so that SAS University Edition, which is running on your virtual computer can read files on your real computer.
Figure 3.10: Setting up a Shared Folder
Although this looks a bit complicated, you only have to do it once. For learning purposes, this might be the only shared folder that you need. If you need to read files from locations other than
SASUniversityEdition\myfolders directory
you will need to create other shared folders. To help understand how shared folders work, suppose you have an Excel file called Grades.xlsx and you want to have access to it inside University Edition. On a Windows platform, you would place the file in the following location:
c:\SASUniversityEdition\myfolders\Grades.xlsx
On a Mac, you would use:
/Users/$USER/SASUniversityEdition/myfolders/Grades.xlsx
You are almost finished. A screen shot of step 4 is shown next.
Figure 3.11: Beginning Step 4
The instructions below show you how to start your virtual computer and run SAS University Edition.
Figure 3.12: Instructions for Running SAS University Edition
You will want to create bookmarks for VirtualBox and SAS University Edition so that you don’t have to type the URLs every time you want to use SAS.
Conclusion
Yes, there is a bit of work (some of it scary) to set up and run SAS University Edition on your computer. However, there are many sources of help if you have trouble.
The next few chapters discuss some of the built-in data sets that you can use to perfect your skills, as well as instructions for using your own data, either on Excel spreadsheets (a very common data source) or CSV (comma-separated values files).
Chapter 4: SAS Studio Tasks
Taking a Tour of the Navigation Pane
Introduction
Hopefully,