A spreadsheet provides a table view of data, where rows represent individual records, and columns represent fields of the records. A field value can be computed from other field values by attaching a formula to the field.
A spreadsheet provides a table view of data, where rows represent individual records, and columns represent fields of the records. A field value can be computed from other field values by attaching a formula to the field.
A spreadsheet in the physical world is a piece of paper with a grid of boxes drawn on it, used to attempt to convey in some fashion a relationship between at least two vectors of information. These vectors are typically referred to as rows and columns of data, and the basic unit of information for the spreadsheet, the intersection of a row and column, is a cell of data.
For instance, the vectors may represent columns of months/weeks/days/hours and rows of data (money spent, sales achieved per individual, etc.).
A spreadsheet presents data in table form, a general format that has probably been around since about the time humans started recording information. Because of this generality, spreadsheets are the most broadly used class of data analysis program. They are almost universally used by business managers for tracking and reporting business activity. The flexibility of spreadsheets often makes them the tool of choice, particularly for non-programmers, to develop quick solutions to daily data management problems.
If considered a user interface, spreadsheets are probably the second most popular user interface in computing history, surpassed only by the filesystem file-directory interface. In a sense, spreadsheets are the closest anything has come to bringing computer programming to the masses, as spreadsheet users over time become more adept at leveraging spreadsheet functionality to meet various computing needs.
The generality and easy initial learning curve of spreadsheets can lead to overuse of spreadsheets when other, and better, tools are available. See Spreadsheet Addiction ,Burns Statistics.
One of the early spreadsheet programs was Visicalc. It provided more than just an input grid for one to type in numbers and words. It also provided the means to associate calculations (known as formula) to specific cells, and even link ranges of cells to a specific formula.
The most popular spreadsheet under DOS was Lotus 123 programmed by Mitch Kapor.
When Dos was replaced by Windows 95, Excel replaced Lotus 123 and Excel is to this day the most popular spreadsheet for Windows.