A NOT QUITE AS BRIEF HISTORY Of EXCEL-ING

A NOT QUITE AS BRIEF HISTORY Of EXCEL-ING We are striving for EXCEL-ANCE

In the Beginning (well… 1978) • Havard Business School (Dan Bricklin) • 5 Columns x 20 Rows • Very, Very Limited

Help!!! • Bob Frankston • Increased Speed • Improved Arithmetic

Success • 1000000 million copies sold • Still available from Dan’s website (bricklin.com)

Then CAME Lotus • Mitch Kapor’s team • 1983 • Added graphing and rudimentary database

Provoked to Excel-Lance • 1985, Excel 1.0 released for Apple • First graphical spreadsheet software with menus!

1987 • First Windows version

1990 • 3d Charts • Outlining • Add-in Support

1992 • Mouse Support • Customizable Toolbars

1993 • Popularity Achieved • Support for VBA • Automation

1995 • First time Microsoft skipped a version number (skipped 6 for 7) • First 32-bit version • Increased speed and stability

More Recent History • 1997 - Clippy and Excel became Friends • 2001 – Excel brought to Windows XP (could now point out formula errors) • 2003 - Added XML Support • 2007 – Ribbon Interface Arrives • 2010 – Image editing, Pivot Tables, Conditional Formatting • 2013 – New Formula Additions

Terms • Workbook – an excel file • Worksheet – a sheet within a workbook • Row – a row within a worksheet • Column – a row within a worksheet • Cell – the intersection between a row and column in a worksheet • Value – the contents of a cell

Values • Can be: • A Numerical Value (i.e. 1, 1.0) • A Date Value (12/23/1961) • A String (Text) Value (“Hello World”) • A Formula

Formulas • Always start with the = sign • Typically have parameters (=CONCATENATE(“Hello”, “ “, “WORLD”))

A NOT QUITE AS BRIEF HISTORY Of EXCEL-ING