What's Next After 1-2-3?
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F R S T I M P R E S S 0 N S '·. What's NeXT After 1-2-3? ou know the old saying about prov window with a somewhat typieal reinventing the wheel. And the Lotus's spreadsheet for worksheet. You'll notice that the items one about not fixing it ifit isn't appear where that ABC/123 stuff used t() Ybroken. Both of those--Philoso be, and categories appear on tiles placed phies seem to apply to spreadsheets be the nineties, Improv, near the rows and columns they describe. cause practically every one that has been Improv starts up with one category ~ch · produ~ in the last several years looks for rows .and columns, but that might not ~ and acts like Lotus 1-2-3. Can it be that be enough. In the Unix benchmark ex --- there is simply no other way to make a has a startling new look ample in photo 1; I needed two sets of spreadsheet? column categories: Results to hold the Lotus doesn't think so. Improv is a timing ·and index. data, and System to completely redesigned spreadsheet pro hold the system names. •: gram that borrows nothing from past • In 1-2-3, it might have been siniplest Lotus efforts. Nearly everything about it Tom Yager to keep· typing ..! 'ResUlt" -and ''Index" is new to Lotus, and some elements ofthe across the columns until I had as many as 1 interface have never ·been used in any . ' I needed, but Improv won't allow that. ~ program. That's what's so exciting about '· Because it use5 row and column names to it. In these days of lawsuits over dupli· that'sonJytire~. ·~;... identify cells, the names must be unique. ~ cated look and feel, Lotus has come up In Improv, row and coluinn names are· That might .seem 'like a burden, ·put it r.~~ with something new. not just ornaments;· they are identirrers, isn't. H you biwe · repetitive data, 'you which Lotus calls items. To locate a spe need to create a new category to .contain s B2,orNotB2 · :. ' .. cirte cell in an Improv worksheet, yoti it.-That's easy enough: Click on an exist To call a program a spreadsheet, it must specify the intei:s~~ting items (e.g., ing category tile and press Enter on the . have rows and columns; ·that is the only . March:Profit). For clarity, that beats numeric keypad (there's ·also· a menu sensible way to arrange tabular data. the heck out ofC2L Item names·can cou. option). ;"': _ ~-~~ .. ·-~!~ .. 1-· ~~. ·~ ••b_.~·. Every spreadsheet has this much in com· tain mixed capitalization,'·e-Yen spaces o With the. Results eolumn Category, moo, ·but Improv diverges rapidly from and punctuation. L<. ' · :_.: 1:1g;:: :.•:, .. · · each cell in photo 1! s ·\vorksh~t is dis the pack after that. · ··' · :'·. t;·· ''·, · .. ··To add clarity and utility, 'you can as· tinctively identittable; even though there ·· The most obvious difference· is that sign types to items through categories. are.three sets of oolumns with the same Improv runs exclusively, at least for the These are brief, usually_· one-word, de names. To reference the C compiler in time being, on the NeXT Computer. scriptions ofthe type of information rep dex for the NeXT; you'd ask for NeXT: C Lotus .had its own reasons for selecting resented by the items. For example, if Compiler: Index. As you add. catego that platform, not the least ofwhich is the you had row items representing months ries, the number of items needed to refer killer development environment that ofthe year, and column items named for to a specific cell increases. For this'rea comes standard on the NeXT. · the things you sell, you might define cat son, it's best to avoid .using additional ·· Lotus plans to pOrt Improv to other en egories· of Months and Products.· But categories simply to group data for read· vironments, but the fir8t such target bas you could tag them anything you like: ability. .,. -. :.::' ·.;· ... · i,· not yet been chosen. The package is en Improv doesn't care what names you use. lmprov provides ·a separate mecha tirely dependent on a graph.ical interface, Now, look at photo 1. .This is an Im- nism for this, ·called (of·course) the so Wmdows, the X Window System, and . : •.. : · .!~ . ,_ group. · Any numbetofitems can be col the Macintosh are all likely candidates. ,~v" • "• I lected into a_group, and grQUp names can .. Shipments to customers are scheduled to THE FACTS 9e used wherever a ~nge is called for. start late this year. ·. · · · ··· · :. · Ranges still exist,;and they are specified Once you get over the shock of having in al-2-3-,like fashion with .... " between to buy a NeXT to run Improv, you begin the bounding item .names. · ' · · ... to notice the important things that make it different. First, the stifling ABC/123 Getting (Data) into It '·. · row and column names are dead. You can When yoti :start lmprov~ · you get a one name rows and columns whatever you cell spreadsheet. Improv requires that - like. Big deal, right? Ah, be patient- · ·"'>. ·:, · _,,. ;:.,, ;:;;,:\ -· .... · -.. · · conti~d OCTOBER 1990 • BYTE 147 F IRST IMPRESS I ON S WHAT'S NEXT AFTER 1-2-3? and you can see the bottom line clearly enough, but it takes time to compare re sults between systems. In an ordinary spreadsheet, you could set aside a group of cells below the main table to present the data more clearly. Getting the data into those cells would involve tedious copying or the creation of formulas that referred back to the origi- . nal data. In lmprov, the worksheet in photo 2 was created with a single action: drag and drop. By moving the Systems category tile from the row to the column area, I instantly created a revised view of the worksheet. Systems got stacked together in adjoining rows, making comparisons a breeze. The data doesn't change, and you can shuffle the category tiles any way you like. If you drop a category tile over the page placeholder, Improv will devote one display page to each item under that category. The data hierarchy in lmprov doesn't end with pages. Each worksheet can hold multiple views, where each view presents the data differently. A single lmprov file (called a model) can hold multiple work sheets (with unique data) as well. Cells in other worksheets (within the same model) can be referenced in any formula by prefixing the cell address with the worksheet name followed by two colons (e.g., Profit and Loss: :FY 90:Ql:Net Income). Photo 1: A sample lmprov worksheet with the key interface elements highlighted. The Secret Fonnulil . There's really only one reason to refer · you create cells as you need them. This is click on the ''towel" sticking out of the ence a lWrksheet cell or group of cells, a good idea-it cuts down on the clutter item dispenser, and drag the mouse down and that is to perform some calculation but adding cells as you go takes some get until you have the number of items you on them. Lotus innovated again with re ting used to. The keypad Enter key, as want. You then tear off the sheet of items spect to formulas. In 1-2-3, the norm is described above, is the global "make an and drop the items on the worksheet. to define one formula in each cell that other one of whatever is selected" key, This is illustrative of lmprov's interface needs calculating. It is not unusual to and it creates new cells, too. Cells are philosophy: The most common opera find large spreadsheets with hundreds of not added one at a time, of course. With tions are the ones that are the easiest to formulas, woven in a fragile web of inter the benchmark worksheet, I created all perform. dependence. the column categories and items first. Improv breaks the link between cells Then, stepping down the rows with the Facing the Interface and formulas. Formulas are entered in Enter key, I created and named the row When you sit down with lmprov, you the formula paM, a resizable subwindow items. Each time a new item is added, must be prepared to be completely lost of the worksheet window. Each formula empty cells are created. for a few minutes. There is no 1-2-3 in ci>nsists of a right side that describes the For those who are in a hurry, Improv terface compatibility-no menu comes calculation, and a left side that specifies offers two shortcuts to the creation of up when you press "/." But there is a the placement of the results. I say "re new cells. First, if you highlight an item simplicity to it, and a continuity that sults" because a single formula can pro and start drumming on the Enter key, it makes it quick to learn and endearing to duce and place multiple data values in a will create new items (and, therefore, use. The interface is simple enough that, worksheet. If you create a worksheet cells) named after the parent category. If once you understand the hierarchy of cat with items Cost, Quantity, and Total, the category is named Month, the default egories, groups, items, and cells, the rest the formula Total=Quantity*Cost will item names will be Monthl, Month2, and follows naturally. calculate all the totals in one operation. soon. Nowhere is the uniqueness oflmprov 's Entering formulas almost never re• The other approach is more fun. At the interface more apparent than in flexible quires using the keyboard.