DEFINE AND DESCRIBE

Summarize the key features found in SPSS, SAS, Python, and RStudio. Emphasize which features are important and
identify the features that are not important in your chosen field of Accounting.

SUMMARY OF KEY FEATURES

SOFTWARE KEY FEATURES - IMPORTANT
SPSS 1. Convenience of Data Input
● Data collected from surveys can be
easily exported to SPSS for detailed
and good analysis.
● Thus, during the conduct of
accounting researches that involves
surveys, this is a great feature that
increase a user’s productivity since it is
efficient and convenient.
KEY FEATURES - NOT IMPORTANT
To the extent of what I’ve read and
researched, all features seem to be useful
in the field of Accounting. This is based on
the belief that being acquainted with
technologies and statistical soft wares is
imperative thus cannot be separated from
the field of accounting.

2. User-friendly
● In SPSS, data gets stored in.SAV
format. These data mostly come from
surveys. This makes the process of
manipulating, analyzing and pulling data
very simple.

3. Metadata
● SPSS have easy access to data
with different variable types.
● It makes finding and working with data
easier therefore allowing the user to sort
or locate specific documents.
● Thus, this feature is beneficial in the
field of accounting since it is compatible
to a vast array of data types including
those data types used in the said field.

4. Wide range of statistical tools

● After the input of the, the magic of
SPSS starts. There is no end on what
we can do on this data.

5. Creating Derived Data

● The conversion of raw data to
substantial information is one of the
main tasks accomplished by SPSS.
● SPSS has a unique way to get data
from critical data also. Trend analysis,
assumptions, and predictive models are
some of the characteristics of SPSS.
● Under the field of accounting, this is
essential since information derived from
the data sets can be relevant for
decision-making.

6. Excellent Presentation Features

● SPSS helps a user to design, plotting,
reporting and presentation features for
more clarity.
● It can be useful for financial analytics
wherein a client who is not acquainted
in accounting related terms and
computations can easily understand
complex accounting data sets.
SAS 1. Strong Data Analysis Abilities To the extent of what I’ve read and
● SAS is like a complete package for researched, all features seem to be useful
data analysis section. Its analysis in the field of Accounting. This is based on
ranges from simple figures to advanced the belief that being acquainted with
levels. technologies and statistical soft wares is
● For example, it plots bar graphs with imperative thus cannot be separated from
the data provided to calculate the the field of accounting.
correlation between complex data sets.
● Thus, serves as an important key
feature since accounting also contains
complex data sets that needs
calculation and visualization for easier
understanding. One example for this is
the dashboard that the class is currently
working on.

2. Flexible 4 Generation Programming

Language (4GL)
● SAS is a 4GL programming language,
and that is its essential feature because
the SAS programming language has an
easy-to-learn syntax.
● Inbuilt libraries of SAS have reduced
coding for common applications to
provide an opportunity to modularize our
job. It is also user-friendly for non-
programming users.
● This feature serves as an essential
feature in accounting since this makes
an accountant’s job more efficient thus
results to being more productive.

3. SAS Studio
● SAS Studio is a unique feature among
SAS features. SAS Studio can be
accessed from any device and with any
web browser. There is no need for client
installation. All libraries and data files
that are needed in the SAS program can
be accessed through any web browser.

4. Support for Various Data Format

● Support for different data formats is
another feature of SAS. SAS has the
ability to read data from any type of file,
any format, and even from files with
missing data.
● SAS provides support for SQL. It has
an extensive database of character
encoding; there is full support for the
most commonly used languages. SAS
programming language also maintains
singularity, so that SAS works with data
in many languages.

5. Management
● SAS management is one of the
significant features of SAS software. It
has SAS Environmental Manager that
alerts, monitors and manages the
analytics environment. The Extended
Java Graphical User Interface
 administers SAS functions in SAS
Management Console.

6. Report Output Format

● SAS is capable of displaying
analytical results and the number of
reporting options.
● Capability of saving and creating
reports in standard formats such as
RTF, PowerPoint, PDF, as well as
eBooks and iBooks.

7. Data Encryption Algorithms

● SAS ensures that security holds the
essence of how we provide access and
for that SAS 9.4 has a security feature
called SAS / SECURE. We can also
encrypt SAS data on the disk through
various algorithms.
PYTHON 1. Simple and Easy to Learn To the extent of what I’ve read and
● Python offers an easy to understand researched, all features seem to be useful
syntax, simple setup, and has many in the field of Accounting. This is based on
practical applications in web the belief that being acquainted with
development. technologies and statistical soft wares is
● There are excellent, straightforward imperative thus cannot be separated from
tools to work with python code, the field of accounting.
especially the interactive interpreter;
Learning to build a system is not a
need.

2. Interpreted Language
● Python is an interpreted language i.e.
interpreter executes the code line by
line at a time. When an interpreted
language is used like Python, there is
no separate compilation and execution
steps. This makes debugging easy and
thus suitable for beginners.
● Internally, Python converts the source
code into an intermediate form
called bytecodes and then translates
this into the native language of your
specific computer and then runs it. You
just run your programs and you never
have to worry about linking and loading
with libraries, etc.

3. Cross-platform language
● Python can run equally on different
platforms such as Windows, Linux,
Unix, Macintosh etc. A Python program
written on a Macintosh computer will run
on a Linux system and vice versa. Thus,
Python is a portable language.

4. Free and Open Source

● Python is an example of
a FLOSS (Free/Libre and Open Source
Software). In simple terms, a user can
freely distribute copies of this software,
read the software's source code, make
changes to it, use pieces of it in
 new free programs and others.

5. Object-Oriented language
● Python supports object
oriented features. Compared with other
programming languages, Python’s class
mechanism adds classes with a
minimum of new syntax and semantics.
● It is a mixture of the class
mechanisms found in C++ and Modula-
3. Python classes provide all the
standard features of Object Oriented
Programming Language except
strong encapsulation, which is only one
of many features associated with the
term "object-oriented".

6. Extensive Libraries
● The Python Standard Library is huge
indeed. Python library contains built-in
modules (written in C) that provide
access to system functionality such as
file I/O that would otherwise be
inaccessible to Python programmers, as
well as modules written in Python that
provide standardized solutions for many
problems that occur in everyday
programming. It can help a user do
various things involving regular
expressions, documentation generation,
unit testing, threading, databases etc.
7. Integrated
● Python can be easily integrated with
languages like C, C++, JAVA etc.
8. Databases Connectivity
● Python provides interface to all
commercial databases.
RSTUDIO 1. An IDE that was built just for R To the extent of what I’ve read and
● Syntax highlighting, code completion, researched, all features seem to be useful
and smart indentation in the field of Accounting. This is based on
● Execute R code directly from the the belief that being acquainted with
source editor technologies and statistical soft wares is
● Quickly jump to function definitions imperative thus cannot be separated from
2. Brings workflow together the field of accounting.
● Integrated R help and documentation
● Easily manage multiple working
directories using projects
● Workspace browser and data viewer
3. Powerful authoring & Debugging
● Interactive debugger to diagnose and
fix errors quickly
● Extensive package development tools
● Authoring with Sweave and R
Markdown

References:

https://rstudio.com/products/rstudio/features/
https://data-flair.training/blogs/sas-features/
http://net-informations.com/python/intro/features.htm
https://www.surveygizmo.com/resources/blog/what-is-spss/