Date:         Wed, 24 Jul 2002 11:37:27 -0500
Reply-To:     "Deshon, Joe A" <jdesho01@SPRINTSPECTRUM.COM>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         "Deshon, Joe A" <jdesho01@SPRINTSPECTRUM.COM>
Subject:      Re: Means vs summary (was: aggregate 8100+ variables)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Does anybody know the history behind this?

I had heard that a long time ago, means and summary served two different
purposes.  Over the years after several versions, they began to take on each
others' features so they became virtually synonymous.  But SAS couldn't
eliminate one and remain backward compatible.  So we're stuck with two
virtually identical -- but not completely identical -- procs.

Is that a true story?

Joe DeShon
Manager, Systems and Infrastructure Group
CRM / Database Marketing Department
Sprint PCS
6130 Sprint Parkway
Mailstop: KSOPHJ0212-2A350
Overland Park  KS  66251
Work: (913) 762-6172
PCS: (816) 210-0950
Fax: (913) 762-0804
email: jdesho01@sprintspectrum.com



-----Original Message-----
From: Gary.McQuown@MORTGAGE.WELLSFARGO.COM
[mailto:Gary.McQuown@MORTGAGE.WELLSFARGO.COM]
Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2002 2:20 PM
To: SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Means vs summary (was: aggregate 8100+ variables)


The following is from the online V8 doc.

Except for the differences discussed in the following section, all the
information in The MEANS Procedure also applies to PROC SUMMARY.
PRINT | NOPRINT
        specifies whether PROC SUMMARY displays the descriptive statistics.
By default, PROC SUMMARY produces no display output, but PROC MEANS does
produce display output.
Default: If you omit the VAR statement, PROC SUMMARY produces a simple count
of observations, whereas PROC MEANS tries to analyze all the numeric
variables that are not listed in the other statements.
        HTH:
        Gary

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Sigurd Hermansen [SMTP:HERMANS1@WESTAT.COM]
> Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2002 2:00 PM
> To:   SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject:      Re: Means vs summary (was: aggregate 8100+ variables)
>
> My copy of the V6 Procedures Guide, 3rd Edition (1/1990), does not show a
> noprint option for Summary and mentions specifically the difference in the
> way Means responds to an omitted VAR statement. For all other details, it
> refers the reader to Means. From that I would infer that Summary and Means
> have, with these exceptions, virtually the same syntax in V6.
>
> Sig
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Deshon, Joe A [mailto:jdesho01@SPRINTSPECTRUM.COM]
> Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2002 11:03 AM
> To: SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Means vs summary (was: aggregate 8100+ variables)
>
>
> All --
>
> Wow, I didn't realize that proc means and proc summary treated the absence
> of a var statement differently.  Now I wonder what other differences there
> are between the two.  This is significant because we have some "means"
> fans
> around here and some "summary" fans.  (I'm a summary fan.)
>
> So far, I have found two significant differences:
>
>   1.  Means prints a report by default that can be suppressed with
> "noprint".  Summary does not.
>   2.  In the absence of a var statement, means processes all the numeric
> variables whereas summary processes none of them.
>
> So, who can come up with any other differences?
>
>   -- Joe
>
> Joe DeShon
> Manager, Systems and Infrastructure Group
> CRM / Database Marketing Department
> Sprint PCS
> 6130 Sprint Parkway
> Mailstop: KSOPHJ0212-2A350
> Overland Park  KS  66251
> Work: (913) 762-6172
> PCS: (816) 210-0950
> Fax: (913) 762-0804
> email: jdesho01@sprintspectrum.com
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Peter Crawford [mailto:peter.crawford@DB.COM]
> Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2002 7:07 AM
> To: SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: aggregate 8100+ variables
>
>
> this is one situation where proc means and
> proc summary are *not* the same !
> Like proc univariate, proc means assumes all
> numeric vars should be processed when no
> var statement is present.
> Summary assumes none,
>
> So the minimal tech solution can become
>
>  proc means noprint/*not wanting results window filled by 8K vars */ ;
>     output sum=;
>  run;
>
>
>
> Datum:         22.07.2002 21:10
> An:            SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
>
>
>
> Antwort an:    Doug Dame <dameda@SHANDS.UFL.EDU>
>
> Betreff:       Re: aggregate 8100+ variables
> Nachrichtentext:
>
> The low tech approach would be to simply use
>
>  proc summary ....
>     var _NUMERIC_ ;
>     output out=SUMMARY
>    out= ;
>
> Seems to work for me.
>
> (Also, in the distant past I did some testing on several different
> platforms
> (MVS w/o SyncSort, AIX, Winders), and have never found a proc sort before
> a
> proc summary to enhance performance. So dump the proc sort, and change the
> proc summary to an nway with a class statement. )
>
> HTH
>
> Douglas Dame
> Shands HealthCare
> Gainesville FL USA
>
>
>
>
>
> --
>
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