There are a number of places that new users can use a lot of memory. This is only a guess at what might apply in your shop.
In a DATA step, new users have to realize that these steps are different:
data new (keep=a list of final variables);
set old;
** calculations;
run;
data new (keep=a list of final variables);
set old (keep=just the variables I need to read in);
** calculations;
run;
The first step reads in all of the variables. If you have a gazillion variables, that can consume memory.
In PROC FREQ, the software tracks all combinations. So this table would require enormous amounts of memory:
proc freq data=purchases;
tables credit_card_no * date / noprint out=counts;
run;
In PROC MEANS (or PROC SUMMARY), the CLASS statement tracks all levels at once. That can also consume memory:
proc summary data=purchases;
class credit_card_no;
var amount;
output ...
run;
But there's no guarantee that the fault lies with the users. And here at the discussion forum, we don't really have much of a clue as to what the users are actually doing. These are just some pitfalls using commonplace tools.
Good luck.
