Re: [opendocument-users] Concerns about the way of formula standardization

[=?ISO-8859-15?Q?J=F6rg_Wartenberg?= <OO@WorldWartWeb.com>]

Hello Daniel,

Daniel Carrera schrieb:
>> 2.) Why define the formula as 'value of the table:formula attribute'. 
>> Is a string really the best way to store structured information like 
>> a formula?
>
> A string is definitely the best way to store a formula. First, using 
> formulas like SUM([.B1];[.C2]) makes it far easier for applications to 
> support it, since they sort of support it already. Making a standard 
> easy to support is a good idea.
>
Do you really think it's easier to interpret data in an uncommon
structure, than data in an widely used structure like e.g. XML.  You
have to write new code for it, instead of using the same library that
your program already uses for many other data.

It's of course easier for a program that already supports an Excel like
formula syntax. Because it's means only minor changes, to switch to
something like OpenFormula. But what is, if an application like Firefox
wants to display OpenDocument spreadsheets? They have to write such code
from scratch...

>> I would suggest to split the format into three sub formats:
>> -A container format which describes the structure of the formula
>> -A set of mathematical operators
>> -A operand format which either contain the data or reference to the data 
>
> It looks like you may be thinking of formulas in the generic 
> mathematical sense. In that case, you want MathML or TeX.
These are languages for describing the graphical layout of a formula.
I'm just talking about machine interpretable formulas here.

Regards Jörg Wartenberg