CIVL 1112 Origins of Spreadsheets 1/2
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The word "spreadsheet" came from "spread" in its While other have made contributions to computer-based sense of a newspaper or magazine item that covers spreadsheets, most agree the modern electronic two facing pages, extending across the center fold and spreadsheet was first developed by: treating the two pages as one large one.
The compound word "spread-sheet" came to mean the format used to present book-keeping ledgers—with columns for categories of expenditures across the top, invoices listed down the left margin, and the amount of each payment in the cell where its row and column intersect. Dan Bricklin Bob Frankston
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Because of Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston's Bricklin has spoken of watching his university professor implementation of VisiCalc on the Apple II in 1979 and the create a table of calculation results on a blackboard. IBM PC in 1981, the spreadsheet concept became widely known in the late 1970s and early 1980s. When the professor found an error, he had to tediously erase and rewrite a number of sequential entries in the PC World magazine called VisiCalc the first electronic table, triggering Bricklin to think that he could replicate the spreadsheet. process on a computer, using the blackboard as the model to view results of underlying formulas.
His idea became VisiCalc, the first application that turned the personal computer from a hobby for computer enthusiasts into a business tool.
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VisiCalc was the first spreadsheet that combined all VisiCalc went on to become the first killer app, an essential features of modern spreadsheet applications application that was so compelling, people would buy a particular computer just to use it.
VisiCalc was in no small part responsible for the Apple II's success.
The program was later ported to a number of other early computers, notably CP/M machines, the Atari 8-bit family and various Commodore platforms.
Nevertheless, VisiCalc remains best known as an Apple II program. CIVL 1112 Origins of Spreadsheets 2/2
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