Can you find a simpler way to run SAS than this?

1. emacs sample.sas ( you will have syntax coloring and all the editing
   power of emacs.)
2. Press F3

That is all. SAS will be called and the output and log will be put in
sample.lst and sample.log. You can press F5 and F6 to view these files
from the program window.

Some better things:

1. Run command:

      M-x ess-sas-global-unix-keys

  and you will be able to use F4, F5, F6 to switch between program, log
  and output windows. You can also make use of other standard or
  non-standard SAS keys (notably C-F3 to submit selected text to SAS).
  Details can be found at http://stat.ethz.ch/ESS/Manual/ess_5.html.

  Note:
    You can include 
      (ess-sas-global-unix-keys)
    in your .emacs file but then you will not be able to use F2,...F12
    for other purposes.
2. You can also use SAS in interactive mode by running command:

      M-x SAS

   Four buffers will appear on screen: 
     sample.sas  in  ESS[SAS] mode        # your source file
     *SAS:1*     in  iESS [SAS:1] mode    # ESS communication buffer
     *SAS:1.log* in  Shell [] ESStr mode  # SAS log information
     *SAS:1.lst* in  Shell [] ESSlst mode # SAS listing information

   and you will be able to submit regions, lines, or the entire file
   contents to SAS.  A highlighted region will normally begin with 
   the keywords 'DATA' or 'PROC' and end with the keyword 'RUN;'.
   Note that the keybindings for this mode is different. Put the
   following lines to your .emacs file if you would like to use
   F9, F10, F11 in ESS/R style. 

     (define-key sas-mode-local-map (quote [f9]) 'ess-eval-line-and-step)
     (define-key sas-mode-local-map (quote [f10]) 'ess-eval-region)
     (define-key sas-mode-local-map (quote [f11]) 'ess-ess-eval-buffer)

I would like to thank Blair for finding out a configuration mistake that
prevent SAS from starting. If you have any question, please feel free to
write to helpdesk@stat.rice.edu. 

This text will be put under http://www.stat.rice.edu/~helpdesk/howto.