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1979-12-31
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4KB
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CHALK SPREADSHEET (MBUG disk #162).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As MULTIPLAN is memory hungry, I want a simple program which can hold
larger spreadsheets.
Is CHALK it? Alan Laughton said "Don't know. Heres a copy - find out
and let us all know". Neatly done, Alan!
Why call it CHALK? Because it is a chalkboard. Ah!
At first CHALK didn't impress me. Its limitations include fixed width
columns; all cells formatted to two decimals; cells can't contain alpha
chars; only + - * / % and & (sum cell m to n) operators; formulae can
use only cell adresses not constants and it ignores lower case commands.
I persevered and found that CHALK held larger boards than MULTIPLAN and
accepted data quicker.
CHALK held a board of 30 cols by 50 rows, all with titles and with two
rows of formulae. MULTIPLAN held 30 cols by 42 rows (2 with formulae)
but with NO titles. CHALK reserves space for row and column titles
whether used or not and keeps them permanently on screen.
To speed up data entry, enter `V' to turn off the board display and
enter the data at the prompt. Current cell address is shown. Blanked
and formula cells are automatically protected and skipped. I'm sure
this is faster than MULTIPLAN.
CHALK is OK for simple jobs although needing a little ingenuity (eg to
calculate an average). Use it if MULTIPLAN is too dear or a worksheet
won't fit.
Assuming you will use CHALK, here are a few hints.
`?' calls up two screens containing ALL the commands with their syntax.
There is a detailed manual on disk. It mentions more files than are in
CHALK.LBR but I didn't need them to run it on my 256TC.
CHALK's movement controls work around the ESDX extended diamond but use
`M' instead of `^' - OK after you get used to it. Movement around the
worksheet is quite fast.
`D' or `R' set auto move to move down or right after data entry. When
you enter a formula or blank a cell, CHALK asks if you want to repeat
this at the next cell and displays position messages.
Formulae may reference cells in the current row or column only - except
the copy command called `move' (>) which references a row/col address.
When adding columns or rows, the new column or row is inserted after
the cursor position and copies the formulae (but not the data), with
the option of repeating the operation. Once, CHALK wouldn't add as many
columns as I wanted so I saved the board under another name, quit,
reloaded it and could then add more columns. There may be a better way.
You can copy part or all of another board into the current one. I used
this to copy data from one column to others. I made up a 4 col board,
added the data and the formulae and saved it. Then I created a 30 col
board and copied the small one into it six times. I'm not sure this
was quicker than entering the data the fast way mentioned earlier.
Titles and formulae are NOT copied. You can use this to create, eg,
annual figures from the total lines on 12 monthly boards, but not as
conveniently as with MULTIPLAN's LINK.
Bugs? I found quirks, and perhaps a bug or two:
% will cope with 9999% but not 10000%; overflow seems to get confused
but recovers when the offending cell is changed; formulae aren't
foolproof, eg F AC/45AA gave AB/AB and F AC/AA45 should give an error
message but gave 0/0.
When I was experimenting with the above formulae, CHALK once refused to
quit on the `Q' command - perhaps not surprising, considering what I
did to it! ^C got its attention, though!
Because CHALK has a limited command repertoire it should be easy to
learn its quirks and limitations and work within them.
SUMMARY: It grows on me. Thanks, Alan, I'll keep it.
Terry Hill, HASTINGS MUG, April '91