Template:VisiCalc capsule: Difference between revisions
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{{drop|I|n 1979, Dan}} Bricklin and Bob Frankston created a new application for the Apple II computer. They called it “[[VisiCalc]]”. It was a grid of cells that you could input numbers and text into and then run calculations on by reference to cell coordinates. [[VisiCalc]] was the first [[spreadsheet]] program: a primitive ancestor to that beast we all now know and love as [[Microsoft Excel]] | {{drop|I|n 1979, Dan}} Bricklin and Bob Frankston created a new application for the Apple II computer. They called it “[[VisiCalc]]”. It was a grid of cells that you could input numbers and text into and then run calculations on by reference to cell coordinates. [[VisiCalc]] was the first [[spreadsheet]] program: a primitive ancestor to that beast we all now know and love as [[Microsoft Excel]]. | ||
It might not have seemed much in 1979, but | [[VisiCalc]]’s brilliant innovation was to separate the data you wanted to manipulate — the numbers and text ''in'' the cells — from the logical operations you wanted to manipulate them with — quasi-mathematical formulae — which referenced just the coordinates of the cells holding the data, not the data itself. You could therefore change the data without upsetting the calculation parameters. VisiCalc established a rudimentary form of programming language. A spreadsheet is a sort of ''programme''. This may seem redolent of a [[smart contract]], by the way. That is because it ''is''. But let us not be distracted. | ||
It might not have seemed much in 1979, but VisiCalc and its heirs would revolutionise business computing. While not nearly as intuitive as the Alto’s “[[desktop]]” — there was no graphic user interface or anything like that — VisiCalc was a much purer expression of what a personal computer could do. It promised even modest undertakings a powerful means of storing, augmenting, filtering, analysing and manipulating unprecedented amounts of information as structured data. | |||
Latest revision as of 17:05, 30 September 2024
In 1979, Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston created a new application for the Apple II computer. They called it “VisiCalc”. It was a grid of cells that you could input numbers and text into and then run calculations on by reference to cell coordinates. VisiCalc was the first spreadsheet program: a primitive ancestor to that beast we all now know and love as Microsoft Excel.
VisiCalc’s brilliant innovation was to separate the data you wanted to manipulate — the numbers and text in the cells — from the logical operations you wanted to manipulate them with — quasi-mathematical formulae — which referenced just the coordinates of the cells holding the data, not the data itself. You could therefore change the data without upsetting the calculation parameters. VisiCalc established a rudimentary form of programming language. A spreadsheet is a sort of programme. This may seem redolent of a smart contract, by the way. That is because it is. But let us not be distracted.
It might not have seemed much in 1979, but VisiCalc and its heirs would revolutionise business computing. While not nearly as intuitive as the Alto’s “desktop” — there was no graphic user interface or anything like that — VisiCalc was a much purer expression of what a personal computer could do. It promised even modest undertakings a powerful means of storing, augmenting, filtering, analysing and manipulating unprecedented amounts of information as structured data.