| 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.
|