Anaconda vs. PyCharm vs. SAS Viya

I have asked all my juniors to work with Anaconda and Pycharm only, as this is the best combination for now. Coming to use cases: 1. When you have multiple applications using multiple Python variants, it is a really good tool instead of Venv (I never like it). 2. If you have to work on multiple tools and you are someone who needs to work on data analytics, development, and machine learning, this is good. 3. If you have to work with both R and Python, then also this is a good tool, and it provides support for both.

Incentivized

PyCharm is well suited to developing and deploying Python applications in the cloud using Kubernetes or serverless pipelines. The integration with GitLab is great; merges and rebates are easily done and help the developer move quickly. The search engine that allows you to search inside your code is also great. It is less appropriate for other languages.

Incentivized

SAS Advance Analytics is well suited for data that is visual. Data where you want to see multiple graphs and models are good for this software. However, if your data is more descriptive this may not be the best program. SAS is well suited for data where you need to make comparisons on the feasibility of two different programs. Data that can be compared is perfect for this software.

Incentivized

• Anaconda is a one-stop destination for important data science and programming tools such as Jupyter, Spider, R etc.
• Anaconda command prompt gave flexibility to use and install multiple libraries in Python easily.
• Jupyter Notebook, a famous Anaconda product is still one of the best and easy to use product for students like me out there who want to practice coding without spending too much money.

Incentivized

• Git integration is really essential as it allows anyone to visually see the local and remote changes, compare revisions without the need for complex commands.
• Complex debugging tools are basked into the IDE. Controls like break on exception are sometimes very helpful to identify errors quickly.
• Multiple runtimes - Python, Flask, Django, Docker are native the to IDE. This makes development and debugging and even more seamless.
• Integrates with Jupyter and Markdown files as well. Side by side rendering and editing makes it simple to develop such files.

Incentivized

• SAS is can be used as query builder tool which can automate a lot of excel process.
• There are variety of statistical options available that tie up good visual analytics.
• There are inbuilt models available for different operations which doesn't require any coding and are easy to run.

Incentivized

• It can have a cloud interface to store the work.
• Compatible for large size files.
• I used R Studio for building Machine Learning models, Many times when I tried to run the entire code together the software would crash. It would lead to loss of data and changes I made.

Incentivized

• The biggest complaint I have about PyCharm is that it can use a lot of RAM which slows down the computer / IDE. I use the paid version, and have otherwise found nothing to complain about the interface, utility, and capabilities.

Incentivized

• SAS Analytics does not have very good graphic capabilities. Their advanced graphics packages are expensive, and still not very appealing or intuitive to customize.
• SAS Analytics is not as up-to-date when it comes to advanced analytical techniques as R or other open-source analytics packages.

Incentivized

It's really good at data processing, but needs to grow more in publishing in a way that a non-programmer can interact with. It also introduces confusion for programmers that are familiar with normal Python processes which are slightly different in Anaconda such as virtualenvs.

Incentivized

It's perfect for our needs, cuts development time, is really helpful for newbies to understand projects structure

Incentivized

Not only does SAS become easier to use as the user gets more familiar with its capabilities, but the customer service is excellent. Any issues with SAS and their technical team is either contacting the user via email, chat, text, WebEx, or phone. They have power users that have years of experience with SAS there to help with any issue.

I am giving this rating because I have been using this tool since 2017, and I was in college at that time. Initially, I hesitated to use it as I was not very aware of the workings of Python and how difficult it is to manage its dependency from project to project. Anaconda really helped me with that. The first machine-learning model that I deployed on the Live server was with Anaconda only. It was so managed that I only installed libraries from the requirement.txt file, and it started working. There was no need to manually install cuda or tensor flow as it was a very difficult job at that time. Graphical data modeling also provides tools for it, and they can be easily saved to the system and used anywhere.

Incentivized

It's pretty easy to use, but if it's your first time using it, you need time to adapt. Nevertheless, it has a lot of options, and everything is pretty easy to find. The console has a lot of advantages and lets you accelerate your development from the first day.

Incentivized

If SAS Enterprise Guide is utilized any beginning user will be able to shorten the learning curve. This is allow the user a plethora of basic capabilities until they can utilize coding to expand their needs in manipulating and presenting data. SAS is also dedicated to expanding this environment so it is ever growing.

SAS probably has the most market saturation out of all of the analytics software worldwide. They are in every industry and they are knowledgable about every industry. They are always available to take questions, solve issues, and discuss a company's needs. A company that buys SAS software has a dedicated representative that is there for all of their needs.

Although nothing is perfect, SAS is almost there. The software can handle billions of rows of data without a glitch and runs at a quick pace regardless of what the user wants to perform. SAS products are made to handle data so performance is of their utmost important. The software is created to run things as efficiently as SAS software can to maximize performance.

Anaconda provides fast support, and a large number of users moderate its online community. This enables any questions you may have to be answered in a timely fashion, regardless of the topic. The fact that it is based in a Python environment only adds to the size of the online community.

Incentivized

I rate 10/10 because I have never needed a direct customer support from the JetBrains so far. Whenever and for whatever kind of problems I came across, I have been able to resolve it within the internet community, simply by Googling because turns out most of the time, it was me who lacked the proper information to use the IDE or simply make the proper configuration. I have never came across a bug in PyCharm either so it deserves 10/10 for overall support

Incentivized

SAS is generally known for good support that's one of the main reasons to justify the cost of having SAS licenses within our organization is knowing that customer support is just a quick phone call away. I've usually had good experiences with the SAS customer support team it's one of the ways in which the company stands out in my view.

Incentivized

SAS has regional and national conferences that are dedicated to expanding users' knowledge of the software and showing them what changes and additions they are making to the software. There are user groups in most of the major cities that also provide multi-day seminars that focus on specific topics for education. If online training isn't the best way for the user, there is ample in-person training available.

There are online videos, live classes, and resource material which makes training very easy to access. However, nothing is circumstantial so applying your training can get tricky if the user is performing complex tasks. When purchasing software, SAS will also allocate education credits so the user(s) can access classes and material online to help expand their knowledge.

Ask as many questions you can before the install to understand the process. Since a third party does the installation your company is sort of a passanger and it is easy to get lost in the process. It also helps to have all users and IT support involved in the install to help increase the knowledge as to how SAS runs and what it needs to perform correctly.

I have experience using RStudio oustide of Anaconda. RStudio can be installed via anaconda, but I like to use RStudio separate from Anaconda when I am worin in R. I tend to use Anaconda for python and RStudio for working in R. Although installing libraries and packages can sometimes be tricky with both RStudio and Anaconda, I like installing R packages via RStudio. However, for anything python-related, Anaconda is my go to!

Incentivized

When it comes to development and debugging PyCharm is better than Spyder as it provides good debugging support and top-quality code completion suggestions. Compared to Jupiter notebook it's easy to install required packages in PyCharm, also PyChram is a good option when we want to write production-grade code because it provides required suggestions.

Incentivized

SAS was the incumbent tool, and what the team knew. We did look into using Revolution Analytics enterprise version of R, but the learning curve on that caused us to stick with SAS. In my current position, I've opted for WPS over SAS. I can still leverage my SAS experience, but the price is about 15% of what SAS charges, with extra functionality, such as direct database access. I can supplement WPS with free software, such R for anything that it might be missing.

Incentivized

It all depends on the type of SAS product the user has. Scaleability differs from product to product, and if the user has SAS Office Analytics the scaleability is quite robust. This software will satisfy the majority of the company's analytic needs for years to come. In addition, if SAS is not meeting the users needs the company can easily find SAS solutions that will.

• It has helped our organization to work collectively faster by using Anaconda's collaborative capabilities and adding other collaboration tools over.
• By having an easy access and immediate use of libraries, developing times has decreased more than 20 %
• There's an enormous data scientist shortage. Since Anaconda is very easy to use, we have to be able to convert several professionals into the data scientist. This is especially true for an economist, and this my case. I convert myself to Data Scientist thanks to my econometrics knowledge applied with Anaconda.

Incentivized

• PyCharm has a very positive ROI for our BU. It has increased developer productivity exponentially.
• Software quality has significantly improved. We are able to refactor/test/debug the code quicker/faster/better.
• Our business unit is able to deliver faster. Customers are happier than ever.

Incentivized

• SAS is pretty expensive, so a company would need to take that into consideration before purchasing a license.
• A lot of companies are now starting to use SAS Advance Analytics, it is great for sharing data between departments.
• Presentations come out better when using SAS, and estimates are more precise to the confidence interval.

Incentivized