HISTORY OF SPREADSHEETS

Spreadsheets - the TRUE history of fully interactive spreadsheets & JIT

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"A full five to six years before Bricklin and Visicalc" 

(HYPONE is phenyl-methyl-acetone (C 6 H 5 .CO.CH 3 ))

DAVID JOHNSTON

News results for "michael jackson"

ICI, Rocksavage, Cheshire

(The new owners of ICI)

The birthplace of the first very powerful early shared public spreadsheet in 1974

3 years before APPLE II launch (1977)

7 years before IBM PC launch (Aug 1981)

i.e. Spreadsheets were not an 'invention' in 1979, since fully interactive, WYSIWYG spreadsheets were already in commercial use in 1974 on mainframes.

sex

Copy of 1974 Manual

PAGE 1  (of 8)

Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) -  Mond Division

Brunner House, Northwich & Rocksavage Works, Cheshire, England 

The "Product"

The "Works Records System"

Features:

3-D spreadsheet (time = 3rd dimension)

separation of data / calculation / Input/output

interactive, multi-user, networked

backup/recovery

security

"Remote Data" access

Database of aged values (hour/day/week/month/Qtr/year)

Built-in integrity checking (eg units attribute,consistency)

Row/column headers in Dynamic Tables

Uniquely identifiable (system-wide) data items

Histograms, WYSIWYG  views, reports, cross references

Timeframe

In use from 1974-2001

The Team:

Extant? 

Other products

Designer: 

Dr. Robert Mais, employee of ICI, retired

yes

Analyst:

Graham Johnson. employee of ICI, retired

yes

Programmers:

Ken Dakin

Freelance Consultant

yes

Command-CICS

Philip Lath

ICI

?

Colin Done

ICI

yes

Other 1

contract

?

"Atestees"

6

(RM,GJ,KD,CD,PR,DP)

yes, 6 +

Technical:

Links

Architecture:

IBM 370

(compatible with z/Architecture)

3270 "dumb" terminals  

Note 1.

Operating System

MVS 

TP Monitor

CICS Macro level  (pre VS,  XA,  ESA)

Language:

IBM 370 Assembler

Librarian manager

Panvalet

Database:

ADABAS

Techniques

Just-in-time compilation (= dynamic "on-the-fly" compile)

Note 2.

Use of combinatorial, re-entrant machine-code "snippets"

Dynamically built, re-entrant executable code

Optimizing Incremental compiler

(Similar to Dynamic programming algorithmic technique

utilizing "memoization" but also - significantly - in conjunction with 

Note 3.

"referentially transparent" (deterministic) self-modifying code

- eliminating  both time & space penalties)

Compression

segmented system messages

Heavily "Table driven" code (Assembler 'Control tables') including..

similar to "Threaded code" technique, using pre-assembled indexed sub-routine calls.

Custom built, multi dimensional

Branch Tables (super efficient trivial hash function technique)

..."No computer experience or knowledge is needed to do this. An Application System can be built and modified on-line, by the user on his own VDU terminal remote from the main computer without involving computer staff at all"...

- in effect a super-efficient "direct threading" indexed "threaded-code" methodology)

Binary search (where appropriate)

Self optimizing fast-paths

Code self re-organized according to options & usage (reflection)

A copy of the full manual is now lodged with The Computer History museum, CA under the name "Imperial Chemical Indistries" "Works record System" [ http://www.youtube.com/user/ComputerHistory ] Lot#: X6241.2012 (The X files?)

Double precision Floating point

WRS Terminology

Native 3270 protocol (no BMS)

(SBA/SF/RA etc)

Application

one or more functionally complete Input/Output displays 

`````Q

Direct access files (Data held on flat BDAM files)

No keyed lookup

VDU

Visual display unit        (IBM/3270 Model 2, 24 lines x 80 bytes)

ADABAS "relational" database (specifications only)

only for setup & "program code"

Shunting yard algorithm

Asynchronous background tasks

see CICS asynchronous transaction processing - (Transient Data)

Updating down the line DIR's

Function group   

one of more lines of formulae

100% Pseudo conversational transactions

Automatic parallel recalculation of dependent values ('Dataflow')

Later Software technologies using similar techniques:

"DIR" 

 a unique "named cell"    (literally a "Direct Input Record")

Notes (sic)

- all named cells were 'global' and accessible from any other spreadsheet 

*1

"...a porting of Lotus 1-2-3 to mainframes with 3279 [4 or 7 color 3270] screens did not meet success  

INPUT/OUTPUT Displays   

The user "view" of the data

because its programmers were not able to properly adapt the spreadsheet's user interface 

 

(i.e. a single sheet that could incorporate data from anywhere in the system 

to a "screen at a time" rather than "character at a time" device" (Wikipedia).

-just as with Remote data in on-line spreadsheets like "Editgrid"  today)

*2

"...Dynamic translation was pioneered [?] by the commercial Smalltalk implementation  

REPORT 

printed view of the data  - designed by users online (WYSIWYG) and  

currently known as VisualWorks, in the early 1980s; various Lisp implementations like Emacs picked the technique up quickly"

not necessarily the same as on a "spreadsheet"/input/output view.

(Wikipedia)

*3

"....Memoization was explored as a parsing strategy in 1991 by Norvig,

TITLE

Column or row heading

who demonstrated that an algorithm similar to the use of dynamic programming 

and state-sets in Earley's algorithm (1970), and tables in the CYK algorithm of Cocke, 

CHARACTERISTIC

Component part of a "named" data value  (eg Kilogram,Tank level,Stock)

Younger and Kasami, could be generated by introducing automatic memoization 

to a simple backtracking recursive descent parser to solve the problem of exponential time complexity.

 The basic idea in Norvig’s approach is that when a parser is applied to the input,

 the result is stored in a memotable for subsequent reuse if the same parser is ever reapplied to the same input.

 It was again explored in the context of parsing in 1995 by Johnson and Dörre. In 2002,

 it was examined in considerable depth by Ford in the form called packrat parsing" (Wikibooks - "Memoization")

Questions and Answers

Answer

Was the Works Records System true "WYSIWYG" ?

Yes

Were there columns & rows ?

Yes

("free" layout)

Was the System truly interactive ?

Yes

sub-second responses

Were calculations automatically performed  ?

Yes

(including aged)

Could multiple users view & update spreadsheets ?

Yes

design criteria

Could non-programmers create a S/sheet (application) ?

Yes

design criteria

Were there "named" cells ?

Yes

(6 "levels")

Could values from other S/sheets be incorporated ?

Yes

any

Was historical data stored in database ?

Yes

by time period, shift, day, week, month, year

Was summary data available from aged data ?

Yes

by time period,auto summation

Was backup/recovery automatic & systemwide ?

Yes

application & daily full disk copy

Was user security built-in ?

Yes

Were there 'unit' attributes  (pounds/kilograms etc) ?

Yes

still not universally adopted 35 years later !

Were logically invalid operations prevented (eg lbs x lbs) ?

Yes

""

Were column headers/row headings re-useable ?

Yes

globally & 'cross application'

Could global changes be made to titles/headings ?

Yes

(see also multi-lingual)

Was the system ever used outside chemical factoriies ?

Yes

("secret" union payrise negotiations)

Were there "graphs" available ?

Yes

histograms only since no  GUI

Was there a print report capability ?

Yes

WYSIWYG with on screen previews

Was the system ever marketed commercially ?

No

ICI internal use only

How long was the System used for

27 years

(1974-2001)

What language was the System written in ?

Assembler, re-entrant code

Would WRS compile/execute today ?

Yes

100% IBM Z/390 and Z/Architecture compatible, (no requirement to re-assemble)

Were real-time calculations interpreted or machine code ?

machine code

Did it really use Just-in-time compilation ?

Yes 

Was the code self-modifying?

Yes

(dynamic Memoization & self optimizing fast paths)

Approximately how many lines of code were there ?

< 10,000

(Control table driven)

What was the precision of data/ calculations ?

64 bit (double precision) floating point

Were logical functions allowed ?

Yes

Multi-line formulae ?

Yes

Cross reference of formulae (reports) ?

Yes

Multi- lingual ?

Yes

(all text user modifiable)

Multi-currency ?

Yes

(attributes user defined)

Were many of above features incorporated into Visicalc ?

No

(suggestive of wholy independant & later "re-invention" by Bricklin)

Was WRS ported to PC or Apple ?

No

it was created 6 years before the IBM PC, and between 3 and 6 years before Apple II

Did WRS have a GUI ?

No

Limited to defined field attributes, text/numerics, (later 7 colors & reverse video, condtl. formatting)

(hardware limitation, graphic devices were not generally available in 1974)

Was any part of S/S design 'ported' to other smaller hardware?

Yes

by ICI, to Commodore PET 2001 in 1977 - calculator burnt to ROM chip

Did the System use OOP ?

No

100% procedural, 100% modular, 100% Control table driven

Further information /correspondence

via http://www.linkedin.com/ "Kenneth Dakin" 

Former Wikipedia "Spreadsheet" article as on 4th June 2007  (censored by Wikipedia editors after criticism by Dan Bricklin, author of Visicalc!)

See 'talk' page on current wikipedia 'Spreadsheet' article for 'discussion' ===>

Video Testmony?

on Youtube (relevant discussion section now archived so not so easily viewed)

Demo?

sorry no, but this mockup on Editgrid gives the general idea

WRS performance Facts

average downstream bytes to update one cell on remote 3270 workstation

16 bytes

uncompressed (assumes 10 byte data content)

average number of bytes upstream when single cell is changed

14 bytes

uncompressed

approximate # machine instructions to execute - for example, A=B+C*(D/E)

5

including fetch & save

approximate size of object code snippet ('binary') for above example

24 bytes

4 bytes per F/P machine instruction (F/P = floating point)

approximate floating point instructions/ second on (an earlier generation) 360

330,000

no timing data avail for IBM/370 or later upward compatible hardware

exact number of bytes needed to store a single F/P data cell on BDAM file

8

# formula required to store, for example, >46 years of historic monthly data

0

builtin

# machine instructions to stack >46 years of historic monthly data (MVCL)

1

one MVCL instr.

# instructions required to validate numeric input from 3270

0

hardware feature

# additional instructions required for dynamic v. compiled Fortran algorithm

< 0

more optimized than compiled Fortran

additional overhead retrieving data from another application (remote data)

0

exactly same cost as local

Authors comments (& rant)

 

It was common practice in the 1960's/70's for companies to compete on IT fronts as well as normal commercial lines. If a corporation had talented in-house IT staff, that company could compete better than the ones who either couldn't afford the best or who didn't search for the best (just as in design, production & marketing). Somewhere along the way the majority of company executives 'lost their way' and the current awful state of IT is a direct result of this neglect and over zealous sales of 'off the shelf' solutions. Company intelligence is more valuable than mere assets - it is the very stuff of competiteveness. ICI never shared with others the advantages they gained through intelligent IT Systems and became, as a result, for a very long time, true leaders in their field. Competitiveness creates excellence and advances civilization. One-product Operating Systems and all embracing application Office suites create stagnation and encourage viruses & bugs. If it were not so we would not be where we are today - having to put up with poor quality software.

See also:

by Rod Furlan

Computer myths

Myth

Reality

Mainframes are 'dead'

They are now called servers, web based applications are returning to the mainframe 'dinosaur' paradigm

Optimizing compilers produce code that is as efficient as a good programmers code

Human ingenuity will always win, HLL also carries an " Abstraction penalty" (see Kuketayev)

Programs written in "C" language can produce code that is as efficient as Assember language programmers

simply untrue, benchmarks can demonstrate this consistently

Oblect-oriented programming (OOP) 'paradigm' is somehow superior to 'conventional' programming

zero evidence; unproven; creates additional problems, increased overheads

Self-modifying code is intrinsically bad

used in kernels, compilers , JIT; reduces lines of code (& therefore maintenance) considerably

Computers are so fast today there is no need to write code efficiently

inefficient/lazy programming often negates advances in hardware speedups

Benchmarks are not meaningfull for todays algorithms/machines  because of ..(pipelining/predictive branching et al)

even simple benchmarks provide insight into inefficiencies

Automatic garbage collection is superior to good  program design and also prevents dangling pointers / Storage violations

Garbage collection exists to partly offset poor program design (at significant cost) ;  the algorithm writer should always fully understand context 

Assembler language always produces larger number of lines of code

Assembler can often produce very concise and shorter code, tables & other structures

Only high level languages have 'macros' & pre-processors

Conditional Assembler macros & pre-processors have existed more than 40 years

(Some supposed high level languages lack even the most basic pre-processors)

It is not necessary for HLL programmers to also learn assembly language

Abstraction penalty isolates programmers from reality and consequences

Learning assembler confers many advantages in terms of insights into efficient code

Additional notes:

Some elements of the Works Records System were constructed with the authors own pre-existing modules based on earlier

work on a BATS* TP System and IBM 2260 terminals in 1969/70. This was not a commercial application but essentially performed

the function of a symbolic 'pocket calculator' . Inputting x = (a + b) *  c /(e-d) caused several requests for 

 the variable values (a through e) producing answer x. It was fully interactive and networked and was produced at

Cheshire County Council for amusement/ personal use.

* BATS was a BTAM based teleprocessing system supporting 2260 visual display terminals

   (Basic Additional Teleprocessing Support)

A few favourite quotes

"The best way to see the future is to create it" (unknown)

"The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible" (unknown)

"If you can dream it, you can do it" (Walt Disney)

"A moment's insight is sometimes worth a lifetime of experience" (Ernest Holmes)

"Do not follow the common path. Go where there is no path and leave a trail" (unknown)

"Find time to 'smell the roses' ".

"Why have a dog and bark yourself"

"Bring forth what is true; write it so it's clear; Defend it to your last breath" (Boltzmann quoting Faust)

"You can know the name of a bird in all the languages of the world, but when you're finished, you'll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird...

So let's look at the bird and see what it's doing-- that's what counts. I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.  ” 

(Richard Feynman)

"If I'd asked customers what they wanted, they would have said 'a faster horse'."

(Henry Ford)

A few more morbid ones

"Our death is not an end if we can live on in our children and the younger generation.  For they are us, our bodies are only wilted leaves on the tree of life"   (Albert Einstein)

"Death is the surest calculation that can be made"  (Ludwig Büchner, Force and Matter)

Comparison of spreadsheet software

Comparison of "BCL" (1962) ,AUTOPLAN (1968)  "LANPAR" (1971), "Works Records System" (1974) , "APLDOT" (1976) , "Visicalc" (1979) and Lotus-1-2-3 (1983) , "Execucalc" (1985)

Mainframe based

PC based

Mainframe

Feature

BCL

Autoplan

LANPAR

WRS

VCL****

APLDOT

Visicalc

Lotus 1-2-3

Execucalc*

=======================

1962

1968

1971

1974

1976

1976

1979

1983

1985

Batch

YES

YES

YES

NO

YES

YES

NO

NO

NO

WIKIPEDIA: Spreadsheet article -" VISICALC" states: "The spreadsheet concept became widely known in the late 1970s and early 1980s because of Dan Bricklin's implementation of VisiCalc. VisiCalc was the first spreadsheet that combined all essential features of modern spreadsheet applications, such as WYSIWYG interactive user interface, automatic recalculation, status and formula lines, range copying with relative and absolute references, formula building by selecting referenced cells. PC World magazine has called VisiCalc the first electronic spreadsheet. Bricklin has spoken of watching his university professor create a table of calculation results on a blackboard. When the professor found an error, he had to tediously erase and rewrite a number of sequential entries in the table, triggering Bricklin to think that he could replicate the process on a computer, using the blackboard as the model to view results of underlying formulas. His idea became VisiCalc, the first application that turned the personal computer from a hobby for computer enthusiasts into a business tool."

Time Shared

NO

NO

YES

YES

?

NO

NO

NO

?

Fully Interactive

NO

NO

NO

YES

NO

YES

YES

YES

YES

used visual display units

NO

NO

NO

YES

NO

NO

YES

YES

YES

WYSIWYG cells

NO

NO

NO

YES

NO

NO

YES

YES

YES

Var col width

n/a

n/a

n/a

YES

NO

n/a

NO

NO

YES

Networked

NO

NO

NO

YES

NO

NO

NO

NO

YES

Multi-user (shared data)

NO

NO

NO

YES

NO

NO

NO

NO

?

Automatic recalculation**

YES

YES

YES

YES

YES

YES

NO

NO

YES

Natural order recalculation

NO

NO

YES

YES

?

NO

NO

NO

?

Separation of data/calc/input

?

?

?

YES

YES

?

NO

NO

NO

Units attribute

?

?

?

YES

?

?

NO

NO

NO

External inputs

?

?

?

YES

YES

?

NO

NO

?

Named cells

n/a

YES

n/a

YES

YES

n/a

NO

YES

NO

Remote workbooks

NO

NO

NO

YES

?

NO

NO

NO

NO

Multi-dimensional (time)

NO

NO

NO

YES

YES

NO

NO

NO

NO

Auto summation over time

NO

NO

NO

YES

?

NO

NO

NO

NO

A batch spreadsheet is conceptually indistinguishable from a compiler plus input data. The distinguishing characteristics of a modern spreadsheet are 1) WYSIWYG 'cells' 2) interactive 3) formulae linking cells

Histograms

NO

NO

NO

YES

Graphical output

NO

NO

YES

YES

Logical expressions

NO

NO

NO

YES

YES

NO

NO

YES

YES

Global text library

NO

NO

NO

YES

NO

NO

NO

NO

NO

Automatic data backup

NO

NO

NO

YES

NO

NO

NO

NO

?

Modern day spreadsheets, lacking units attributes, still do not prevent illogical operations such as feet times kilograms. Oh dear ! [See http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17350-nasa-criticised-for-sticking-to-imperial-units.html]

Automatic recovery

NO

NO

NO

YES

NO

NO

NO

NO

?

Free format screen layout

?

?

?

YES

n/a

?

RC

RC

NO

Asynchronous updates**

NO

NO

NO

YES

n/a

NO

NO

NO

NO

Built-in security

NO

NO

NO

YES

NO

NO

NO

NO

?

JIT & memoization used

NO

NO

NO

YES

?

NO

NO

NO

NO

Source Language

Assembler

Fortran

integer basic

X86 Assembler

APL

Integrated database

NO

NO

NO

YES

?

NO

NO

Rudimentary

?

Input range checks

NO

NO

NO

YES

?

?

NO

NO

?

Limit warnings (data)

NO

NO

NO

YES

?

?

NO

NO

?

Size limit (memory)

?

?

?

NO

?

?

32K

YES

?

Screen capacity (bytes)

n/.a

n/a

n/a

24 x 80

n/a

n/a

25 x 40***

Error messages (Formula) ?

n/.a

n/a

n/a

YES

n/a

n/a

NO***

Precedence honoured ?

YES

NO***

Variable column width ?

n/.a

n/a

n/a

YES

n/a

n/a

NO***

Max cells per s/s

?

?

?

none*****

n/a

?

255 rows x 63 cols***

?

?

For a comparison of PC/Mac based early spreadsheets and a benchmark using "Savage" test , from Byte Summer 1987 issue, pp. 69-75, see:-

Note: these comparisons use some criteria that are PC/Mac orientated (eg expanded memory, arithmetic coprocessor) and compared available systems that were in use 13 years after WRS

*Execucalc (1985) description

**The WRS System automatically performed recalculation for dependant cells in other applications - asynchronously in background mode

The WRS also allowed range checks to be used on input values , and it flagged exceptional values (E) and prevented  illogical operations as lbs x lbs or kilos x kilos

***Bob Franston's "Visicalc" history

****VALIDATION COMMAND LANGUAGE by R.O. Bennett, J.M. Becker, D.H. Robbins -Highway S a f e t y Research I n s t i t u t e The U n i v e r s i t y of Michigan Ann Arbor, Michigan

The VCS allowed formulae (entered as data) to calculate batch output reports 

(1976 version)

"...developed t o a i d the automotive s a f e t y researcher i n q u a n t i f y i n q comparison between impact t e s t r e s u l t s and p r e d i c t i o n s o f mathematical simulations. A n t i c i p a t e d app l i c a t i o n s o f t h i s software are: 1. Mani pul ation, analysis and comparison o f dynamic impact data, 2. Graphical presentation o f dynamic impact data, 3. Uses an organizing t o o l t o s i m p l i f y quantative v a l i d a t i o n o f mathematical models; and, 4. Use as an organizing t o o l t o demonstrate c o r r e l a t i o n o r t h e l a c k thereof between experiments and/or t h e o r e t i c a l estimates. Additional Formula I n t e r p r e t e r software c a r r i e s the manipulation and analy s i s c a p a b i l i t y a b i t f u r t h e r . If a new a n a l y t i c a l l y - b a s e d performance c r i t e r i o n i s developed, the user can i n v e s t t h e formula as data and ret r i e v e the r e s u l t s without f u r t h e r post-processing."

See also "Omnitab" batch spreadsheet

***** 32,767 cells max for original version