Club 100 Library - 415/939-1246 BBS, 937-5039 NEWSLETTER, 932-8856 VOICE Description & Glossary for SPREAD.BA 06/19/84 by Woods Martin SPREAD is a BASIC program.It is derived from the MiniVC project which has been one of the most popular programs on the SIG. The original concept was by Terry Dettman with enhancements by Don Hergert, Gary Bender, Chris Young and Joel Hassel. I got involved and as ad hoc coordinator rewrote the program, making the command syntax more VisiCalc-like and adding insert, delete, replicate and data transfer. SPREAD goes beyond MiniVC by adding @COUNT and @TYP functions used in statistical analysis, a header line entry command, better error reporting and an improved display. An added bonus is that SPREAD fully supports the Tandy Disk Video Interface (DVI) in a totally transparent manner. If the DVI is available SPREAD will use it, allowing toggling between 40 and 80 character display and permitting Model Files to be stored on and retrieved from the disk. If there is no DVI, SPREAD will use the LCD display. No program changes are required. SPREAD runs somewhat faster than MiniVC and takes less memory; even so a 24K or 32K Model 100 with 16185 bytes of memory for code, arrays and string space is needed using single precision. Double precision requires 17925 bytes. This allows models of 4 columns by 101 rows or 26 columns by 16 rows for a total of over 400 Elements. If memory is available, the number of rows can be increased. If possible, additional free memory should be available for RAM storage of model files but this is not essential since input or output from or to cassette, disk or the RS232 port is supported. DOWNLOADING First, be sure you have 12000 bytes of memory available. When you are logged into Compuserve, type GO M100SIG. Read the MI file for tips and then go to the XA2 database and type BRO SPREAD. Download per TELCOM instructions. On a 24K machine, you will have to save the DO file to cassette, disk or RS232, kill it from RAM, and then LOAD it back under BASIC. Then type F3 SPREAD ENTER to save the tokenized program to RAM memory. (Since SPREAD is a long program, you may want to use the XMODEM program in XA1 for error free downloading.) --- Appendix II - GLOSSARY -------------------------------- SHEET Workspace consisting of Elements organized into columns and rows. ELEMENT The intersection of a Column and a Row such as A0 D35 P6. An Element can be empty or contain the Definition of a Label, Value or Formula. DEFINITION Information (up to 255 characters) entered into an Element and shown on the Command Line when the Element is accessed. COLUMN Horizontal Element locations lettered from A to Z. ROW Vertical Element locations numbered from 0 to 100. SHEET SIZE The maximum column (cm) and row (rm) intersection permitted by the program -- shown by the /M command. MODEL Text and numeric data entered into the sheet. MODEL FILE A Model 100 .DO file stored in RAM memory or on another device by the /SS command containing Definitions, location and format for each Element of the model. Calculation order and global format are also stored. DATA FILE A Model 100 .DO file stored in RAM memory or on another device by the /S#S command containing Label and Value Definitions for the Elements of a chosen section of the model. Formula Definitions are converted to values before storage. Relative Element locations are stored so that a data file saved from one Model can be loaded into a different location in another. Similar to DIF files used by VisiCalc but not compatible with them. (SPREAD can be modified to use standard DIF files but they occupy over twice the memory and do not retain Element format.) MODEL SIZE The largest column and row used by the model -- must not be greater than Sheet Size. DISPLAY Text or Value displayed in the Element location (limited to 9 characters). The current Element is displayed in reverse. COMMAND LINE The top line of the screen. ULC - Upper left corner of screen. Used to indicate mode (In>, Ed>, !) or Element Definition (L>, V>, F>). ER - Element register. Immediately below ULC. Displays the coordinates of the current Element. LABEL L>Definition The Definition is text which is Displayed as entered. VALUE V>Definition The Definition is a constant numeric value which is Displayed according to Element format. FORMULA F>Definition The Definition is an expression containing arithmetic operators, functions, and/or references to other Elements. The value of the expression is Displayed according to Element format. FORMAT Value and Formula Elements can be displayed as integers, with 1 to 7 decimal places or in scientific notation. If the selected format cannot be displayed in 9 characters, scientific notation will be used automatically.