Hi Ilmari,
Ilmari Lauhakangas schrieb am 27-Nov-19 um 16:59:
Regina Henschel kirjoitti 27.11.2019 klo 12.51:
Hi,
Ilmari Lauhakangas schrieb am 27-Nov-19 um 10:29:
Maybe the Help content for functions could be used as a reference
template with some automation to combine it with math background etc.
to finally produce a separate handbook? Just thinking of how to avoid
repetition of work and human errors.
Ilmari
Stephen Fanning kirjoitti 27.11.2019 klo 11.17:
I agree that it would be good to create a separate handbook to describe
Calc's functions and I will spend time creating a first draft of this
during the coming months.
The mathematical definition of most of the functions is in the
standard. It would be far too error-prone and far too time-consuming
to write these definitions ourself. The help pages could get links to
the HTML version of the standard or a reference with part and section
number.
We need a mathematical description of those functions, which are our
own function, e.g. EASTERSUNDAY. Those functions should get each an
own help page with the mathematical definition or a page in the WIKI.
Some of our own functions are designed for to be compatible with Excel
and have differences to similar functions in the standard. For those
functions it is important to describe these differences.
In general, the fact, whether a function follows the standard or is
compatible to Excel or is totally our own function, should be noted.
So in your view, the function reference could be removed from Calc guide
book
The list (in appendix B) is not needed in a book. There exist already
two lists in the UI and the list in the book has not really more
information. In case you want to keep the list, it should be extended
with the information, whether this function is compatible to Excel and
whether it is standard or own function. That information is needed for
interoperability and currently no where available.
and forget the idea to create a separate handbook?
Yes. The huge number of functions makes it almost impossible to present
and maintain the information in a book. Having the information in the
Help or in the Wiki, the work can be distributed to several people. It
is not necessary that all pages are finished at the same time. And you
can more easily add additional material, e.g. use cases, example sheets,
links.
Working on the Wiki would be more open, and allows discussions about
presenting the content and about its correctness. Only a good structure
and guidelines for the authors are needed. Otherwise it will become an
unappealing mess.
I prefer the Wiki because even people who only want to do something
occasionally can easily contribute. And authors can edit those pages,
for which they have a background. Someone who works on financial
functions might know nothing about functions with complex numbers, for
example. Translating of such Wiki pages is easier and can be more
up-to-date than translating a book. The large number of pages speaks
against the help. With mathematical definition and application examples,
you can quickly reach three pages per function. This results in a volume
of about 1500 pages.
Kind regards
Regina
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