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De - Pt| English Dictionary: spreadsheet | by the DICT Development Group |
| 2 results for spreadsheet | |
| From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]: | |
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| From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (15Feb98) [foldoc]: | |
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spreadsheet {application program} which manipulates numerical and string data in rows and columns of cells. The value in a cell can be calculated from a formula which can involve other cells. A value is recalculated automatically whenever a value on which it depends changes. Different cells may be displayed with different formats. Some spreadsheet support three-dimensional matrices and cyclic references which lead to iterative calculation. An essential feature of a spreadsheet is the copy function (often using {drag-and-drop}). A rectangular area may be copied to another which is a multiple of its size. References between cells may be either absolute or relative in either their horizontal or vertical index. All copies of an absolute reference will refer to the same row, column or cell whereas a relative reference refers to a cell with a given offset from the current cell. Many spreadsheets have a "What-if" feature. The user gives desired end conditions and assigns several input cells to be automatically varied. An area of the spreadsheet is assigned to show the result of various combinations of input values. Spreadsheets usually incorporate a {macro language}, which enables third-party writing of worksheet applications for commercial purposes. In the 1970s, a {screen editor} based calculation program called {Visi-Calc} was introduced. It was probably the first commercial spreadsheet program. Soon {Lotus Development Corporation} released the more sophisticated {Lotus 1-2-3}. Clones appeared, (for example {VP-Planner} from {Paperback Software} with {CGA} graphics, {Quattro} from {Borland}) but Lotus maintained its position with world-wide marketing and support - and lawyers! For example, Borland was forced to abandon its Lotus-like {pop-up menu}. While still developing 1-2-3, Lotus introduced {Symphony}, which had simultaneously active windows for the spreadsheet, graphs and a {word processor}. {Microsoft} produced {MultiPlan} for the {Macintosh}, which was followed by {Excel} for Macintosh, long before {Microsoft Windows} was developed. When {Microsoft Windows} arrived Lotus was still producing the {text-based} 1-2-3 and Symphony. Meanwhile, {Microsoft} launched its {Excel} spreadsheet with interactive graphics, graphic charcters, mouse support and {cut-and-paste} to and from other Windows applications. To compete with Windows spreadsheets, Lotus launched its {Allways} add-on for 1-2-3 - a post-processor that produced Windows-quality graphic characters on screen and printer. The release of Lotus 1-2-3 for Windows was late, slow and buggy. Today, Microsoft, Lotus, Borland and many other companies offer Windows-based spreadsheet programs. The main end-users of spreadsheets are business and science. Spreadsheets are an example of a non-algorithmic programming language. [Dates?] (1995-03-28) | |
