Kohei Yoshida wrote:
Leonard,
On Thu, 2007-06-14 at 00:04 +0300, Leonard Mada wrote:
I definitely recommend studying more advanced spreadsheet models, They
do exist for at least 10 years, and newer designs are really powerful.
I've read what you described about this advanced spreadsheet models
above (in the part I snipped), and I'm still confused.
Is there any website (or academic paper) that explains this "advanced
spreadsheet models" in more detail? I would be interested.
In short:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=ro&q=multidimensional+spreadsheet&btnG=C%C4%83utare&meta=
When I will have some more time, I will detail some of these aspects.
For some modern examples, see:
1. http://www.quantrix.com/r-info-2-2
[see also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantrix_Modeler]
2. http://www.lumina.com/ana/whatisanalytica.htm
[see also http://www.lumina.com/software/ana_brochure.pdf]
3. multidimensional spreadsheets mentioned in an article from 1995
see http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/311/7005/614
See also http://cbbrowne.com/info/spreadsheets.html for a more extended
discussion of spreadsheets, especially section 1.2. To quote:
<QUOTE>
*1.2. Problems with Modern Spreadsheet Developments*
"Enhancements" of spreadsheets over the last few years have not
involved any substantive improvements in functionality, but have
primarily just involved enhancing their "typesetting" capabilities, that
is, the ability to change fonts, insert special formatting, and to
otherwise make tables look "pretty."
I put "enhancements" in quotes because I am skeptical that this actually
represents a true improvement of either the quality of the information
or user efficiency in finding and using information.
These so-called improvements gloss over the continuing problems that
plague spreadsheet users:
- Spreadsheet models encourage the use of "spaghetti" logic, where
cells point to cells that point to cells, and can grow into random
networks of calculation logic;
- They permit lots of easy off-by-one errors;
- They generally are difficult to verify/audit;
- They do not provide good tools for managing data either in terms of
consolidation or searching for specific detail;
- Perhaps most importantly, despite their convenience, spreadsheets are
not a robust repository for information.
</QUOTE>
Sincerely,
Leonard
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