Conference 7.286::atarist

    I have SHEET.ARC or SHEET14.ARC that you can copy.  They can be
    found at PEOVAX::PEOVAX$DUA0:[LEWIS.ATARI].
    
    					Carl.

	ummmm......what is it?

	I've been looking for a 1-2-3 clone, could this be one?


					-sjk

Program specification:
         SHEET  (the  name of this program) is  written  in  Mark 
    Williams  C.  The accuracy for real number (double)  in  Mark 
    Williams C is up to 17 digits (Lotus 123 is up to 15 digits). 
    The  range  of  calculation  is    -1E-37  to  1E+37.    Each 
    spreadsheet contains 255 by 1280 cells and the spreadsheet is 
    implemented by using Sparse Matrix.  (What does Sparce Matrix 
    mean?  Simply speaking,  the empty cells will not occupy  any 
    computer  memory.  So,  you  can  insert  something  in  cell 
    "IU1280" without running into "NOT ENOUGH MEMORY" error). But 
    there are some peculiar effects that is due to Sparse Matrix. 
    I  will  refer to this later.  Any input to a  cell  will  be 
    tokenized before it is being inserted.  Currently,  only  one 
    window can be used.  The future version will support up to  4 
    windows.

    program is written by : 
    
                    Mr. Chor-ming Lung
                    33 Garden St #3
                    Boston, MA 02114
                    U.S.A.

����Martin
     

    I tried the version of SHEET that came out last year, and it had
    the nasty habit of bombing every time I blinked.  Is the new one
    more robust?  (I don't want to waste my time copying another
    crash-prone version.)
           fred

    Hi,
    
    I played about with Sheet 1.4, for a bit, I could not get it to
    print out. Has anyone managed to output a sheet to a printer? 
    It didnt crash when I was using it, but to be fair, I wasn't pushing
    it hard at all,  I constructed  a simple sheet to forcast my retirement
    entitlement ( pension) after x years with Dec, and the effects of
    early retirement. I suppose I ought to update it now to include
    the effect of early redundancy! 8-)      
                                             
    Cheers                                   
                                             
    Pat K.

	re: -.1

	I got SHEET 1.4 to print but the titles seemed to be placed
	randomly on the page.  

	The program never crashed on me but it was rather cumbersome to
	use and still has some bugs.  Examples:

	- no matter which row I selected to delete, SHEET always deleted
	  row 1.

	- No recalculate is done after a cell erase.

	- No way to do insertion of multiple rows or columns - must be
	  done one at a time.
	
	- Width of columns must be set one at a time - no way to do a 
	  group.

	- Apparently cell formats cannot be pre-defined.  That is, for
	  example, if I want a block of cells to be in $2 format, I can
	  enter the numbers, then redefine the format for the block.  I
	  wasn't able to define the format ahead of time so that the
	  entries would be in the right format when entered.

	Any other PD spreadsheets around?

	chris

    RE: Any other PD spreadsheets around?

	See regent::user$c:[lomicka.public.st.vc]*.*.

	I've been waiting for an excuse to publish 
	this little essay I wrote last spring.


			 An Endorsement of VC, 
	    a Small PD Spreadsheet Program for the Atari ST

		by Roy Lomicka  (REGENT::LOMICKA)
		  June 9, 1988

I think VC is a GREAT spreadsheet program.  If you are used to EMACS and
C, then you will most likely find the behavior of VC to be comfortable.
Since VC is limited to 200 rows and 40 columns, you can't handle very
large problems with it, but for the kind of problems you might have 
otherwise solved on a couple of pages of ledger paper, it is certainly 
adequate.  If those problems require repetitive calculation and any
amount of "what if?" speculating, then using VC sure beats doing it on 
paper.

If you are used to one of the "professional" type spreadsheet programs,
then you may not like VC, since (I'm told) those programs have many
more features.  Personally, I've never been able to get comfortable
with other spreadsheets, but the similarity to EMACS and C in this one
makes it an ideal tool for small repetitive calculating and financial
reporting tasks that I occasionally encounter at home. 

Here are some of the reasons why I like VC:

VC uses many of the same fundamental control-key bindings as EMACS:
	
	^N - next row		^P - previous row
	^F - forward column	^B - backward column
	^U - repeat count	^G - abort
	^C - exit (asks about saving, if buffer is modified)

It also happens to use one of my personal favorite key bindings
(which is not used by most emacs users, but has DEC roots):

 	^R - redraw screen

Its expression syntax closely matches that of the C language and
includes conditionals (cond ? val-if-true : val-if-false).

Its data format is encoded as a plain ASCII file that resembles a 
BASIC program and can be easily examined or modified with a text editor
or generated by a simple program if there is a need to import data.

Its command repertoire is robust enough to allow you to design the
layout as you go along.  There is no need to first map out the problem
on paper.  Just sit down at the keyboard and let it grow.  Columns,
rows, and cells can be easily moved, replicated, etc. with automatic
translation of references.

The manual is only 5 pages long and everything you'll need to be
reminded about after reading the manual once is in a help screen.
The command set is small, yet robust.

In summary, the simplicity of this program combined with its power and
intuitiveness have simulated me to rave about it.