Date:         Wed, 12 Mar 2003 18:21:45 +0000
Reply-To:     SAS User <sasuser@GUILDENSTERN.DYNDNS.ORG>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         SAS User <sasuser@GUILDENSTERN.DYNDNS.ORG>
Subject:      Re: sas performance on pc
In-Reply-To:  <BAY2-F4NykoS1Nz19qG0003a35d@hotmail.com>
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on Wed, Mar 12, 2003 at 04:48:10PM +0000, Paul Dorfman (paul_dorfman@HOTMAIL.COM) wrote:
> >From: ciro baldi <baldi@ISTAT.IT>
> >
> >dear l-ers,
> >this time i need an help on a performance issue.
> >I'am processing huge amount of data and my programs do a lot of data
> >steps and sorting.
>
> Ciro,
>
> Without even reading any further, I suspect this is where your main problem
> might lie. Almost without exception, a stream-of-the-conciousness process
> like this can be rethought and recoded so as to reduce the number of steps
> and particularly sort steps. Stream-of-the-conciousness tend to be
> business-analyst-friendly, but machine-hostile. Show us at least a part of
> the process, and I am sure you will have performance-improving suggestions
> in abundance.

For an example of various methods used to optimize a SAS program
resulting in a 77% runtime improvement, take a look at:

    http://listserv.uga.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind9712d&L=sas-l&F=&S=&P=875

The article details specific improvements tried, and overall results
attained.  I recall a shootout between the poster and Ian Whitlock in
which Ian's code (on the test case provided) lost by a whisker, but
neither Google Groups nor the SAS-L archive turned this up readily.

Hardware also matters.  In a trial here pitting a P4 2.2 GHz 256 MB IDE
system against a PIII-700 MHz 512 MB  3 disk SCSI RAID box, the
slower-CPU SCSI box beat the IDE system by half for straight data step
processing, by by an order of magnitude on a complex SQL query.  Your
own processing needs will vary.

--
Charming man. I wish I had a daughter so I could forbid her to marry one...