Re: [office-formula] Semantics

[robert_weir@us.ibm.com]

"Tomas Mecir" <mecirt@gmail.com> wrote
on 02/28/2006 08:43:34 AM:


> I think this introduces the problem of our goal: shall we design a
> spec based on real spreadsheets, or also put in new/changed things,
if
> we feel that it makes sense ?

I think this is the right question to be asking.  There
are really two competing forces at play here.  On one hand, we have
"the power to create the world anew" and bring order to 20 years
of entropy.  The cleaner, more logical and more minimal the syntax
is, the easier it will be for new implementations.  On the other hand,
we have existing implementations already, and we have probably 100 million
or more spreadsheet documents in legacy formats.  Of course, most
of these documents will never be read again.  But it does show that
the collective weight of the past will be a major determinate of what is
practical for us to do today.

I think what we want is something in the middle --
not slavishly adherent to every wart and bug in Excel, but we have no need
to throw everything out and start again.

-Rob