> > > Original question: > > > > I just recently heard a rumor that sas 6.12 for windows produces > > problems > > for one's computer after the 600th invocation. Is this urban legend? > > Uninformed rumor? Real problem? > > > > Reply. > > The Alert Notes that come with the 6.12 installation software state: > > "Repeated invocations of Release 6.12 of the SAS System under > > Microsoft Windows 95 will result in a memory leak that will cause the > > system to malfunction. It has been determined that about 600 invocations > > of the SAS System in interactive mode and about 2000 invocations in > > non-interactive mode will reproduce this problem." > > I take this to mean one SAS session invoking another - I hope it is not > > each time one starts SAS. > > Carman Pagano > > Quaker Chemical Corporation > > Conshohocken, PA 19428 USA > > I would strongly guess that this refers to separate invocations in the > same windows session. In my experience, restarting windows has always > recovered memory lost by leaky applications. > > Jack Ostroff jack_h_ostroff@groton.pfizer.com > Pfizer Central Research, Groton, CT > . Don Stanley and I have confirmation that the more data steps and macros called in a session (especially lots of %do loops, which I specialise in (^-8 ), make each invocation slower and slower - in the space of an afternoon, a run time over 100,000 observations slipped from 9.1 seconds to around 24 seconds. Getting out of SAS (this is on a fast Sparc box) and back in again returned it to the earlier time.

It's a bloody nuisance.

Laurie Fleming | On a clear disk, | (+64 4) 479-1589 4 Kenya St | you can seek forever. | (+64 21) 688-140 Ngaio | | lfleming@actrix.gen.nz Wellington 6004 | | flemingl@ho.acc.org.nz New Zealand | |