SAS Viya: The R Perspective

Bring R and SAS Viya Together

If you work with R and need to tap into the power of SAS Viya’s cloud analytics environment, this book shows you exactly how to make that connection. It’s a hands-on guide to using the R client to drive SAS Cloud Analytic Services (CAS), the engine at the heart of the Viya platform.

Written by SAS developers who work directly on the R integration, the book moves from installation and basic connections to sophisticated data analysis and modeling workflows. You’ll get comfortable with the SWAT package, learn to manage data in CAS, and explore statistical techniques that scale to large data.

What You’ll Learn Along the Way

• Install and configure R, the SWAT package, and CAS connections
• Run your first CAS actions with a quick ten-minute start guide
• Understand core concepts including caslibs, CAS tables, and action parameters
• Manage data efficiently by uploading, exporting, and manipulating tables in CAS
• Work with CASTable objects using familiar R data-frame patterns
• Explore data with summary statistics and visualizations
• Build models for continuous and categorical outcomes, including regression, random forests, gradient boosting, and neural networks
• Master advanced topics such as binary versus REST interfaces and result processing workflows

A Practical, Code-Focused Approach

The book is full of step-by-step examples that you can follow along with. Each chapter builds on the previous one, but the content is structured so you can jump to specific tasks when needed. Whether you’re new to CAS or already familiar with SAS Viya, you’ll find clear explanations that bridge the gap between R programming and cloud-scale analytics.

Who This Book Is For

This guide is ideal for R users who need to access SAS Viya’s analytics capabilities. Some experience with R is assumed, but no prior knowledge of CAS is required. Data analysts, statisticians, data scientists, and developers who work with SAS environments will find it especially useful.

About the Authors

The authors—Yue Qi, Kevin D. Smith, and Xiangxiang Meng—are SAS experts with deep experience in analytics, machine learning, and the SWAT client packages. Their practical perspectives come from building and supporting the very tools described in the book.

Start Building with R and SAS Viya

Add this ebook to your library and get a clear, authoritative reference for using R with SAS Viya. The examples are ready to run on your own CAS server, so you can move from reading to doing quickly.