I’ve been reading about ZigZag again… in some
ways it seems interesting, but I do think it’s
overhyped.
I’m curious to know what others think.
Of course, if this data structure (or paradigm)
is a fourth as powerful as they claim, then it
screams for a Ruby implementation…
Cheers,
Hal
–
Hal Fulton
hal9000@hypermetrics.com
On Sat, 28 Jun 2003 12:40:41 +0900, “Hal E. Fulton”
hal9000@hypermetrics.com wrote (more or less):
I’ve been reading about ZigZag again… in some
ways it seems interesting, but I do think it’s
overhyped.I’m curious to know what others think.
Of course, if this data structure (or paradigm)
is a fourth as powerful as they claim, then it
screams for a Ruby implementation…
I’m scooting my way through the links on the page you cited, and so
far it looks like the Lotus Improv ‘spreadsheet’ which was available
on NextStep (and then briefly on Win3.1)
Unlike Excel, 1-2-3 et al., it was an n-dimensional spreadsheet, with
lots of really easy ways to render the extra dimensions onto the
two-dimensions of a screen or a printed page, plus easy facilities to
apply functions to the ‘spreadsheet’ cells, like summarizing along one
dimension.
I really do miss my copy of Improv.
Cheers,
Euan
Gawnsoft: http://www.gawnsoft.co.sr
Symbian/Epoc wiki: http://html.dnsalias.net:1122
Smalltalk links (harvested from comp.lang.smalltalk) http://html.dnsalias.net/gawnsoft/smalltalk
ZigZag is so busy screaming about how inventive it is, that
I’m not quite sure what the point to it is.
I don’t know if ZigZag is nothing more than someone coming up
with the ideas which were implemented in Improv, but I will
say that I thought Improv was great. iirc, Lighthouse Design
also had a spreadsheet-like program which worked a lot like
Improv, but then Sun bought Lighthouse Design and “improved”
all of their products into nothingness.
At 1:18 PM +0900 6/28/03, Gawnsoft wrote:
On Sat, 28 Jun 2003 12:40:41 +0900, “Hal E. Fulton”
hal9000@hypermetrics.com wrote (more or less):I’ve been reading about ZigZag again… in some
ways it seems interesting, but I do think it’s
overhyped.I’m scooting my way through the links on the page you cited,
and so far it looks like the Lotus Improv ‘spreadsheet’
which was available on NextStep (and then briefly on Win3.1)
–
Garance Alistair Drosehn = gad@gilead.netel.rpi.edu
Senior Systems Programmer or gad@freebsd.org
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute or drosih@rpi.edu
It appears to be a relational database to me. Queries are their dimensions.
Add relation tables, and the fact that cursors wrap from beginning to end,
and that seems to be about it. I don’t see how they can be issued a
patent for it.
on 6/29/03 8:09 PM, Garance A Drosihn at drosih@rpi.edu wrote:
At 1:18 PM +0900 6/28/03, Gawnsoft wrote:
On Sat, 28 Jun 2003 12:40:41 +0900, “Hal E. Fulton”
hal9000@hypermetrics.com wrote (more or less):I’ve been reading about ZigZag again… in some
ways it seems interesting, but I do think it’s
overhyped.I’m scooting my way through the links on the page you cited,
and so far it looks like the Lotus Improv ‘spreadsheet’
which was available on NextStep (and then briefly on Win3.1)ZigZag is so busy screaming about how inventive it is, that
I’m not quite sure what the point to it is.I don’t know if ZigZag is nothing more than someone coming up
with the ideas which were implemented in Improv, but I will
say that I thought Improv was great. iirc, Lighthouse Design
also had a spreadsheet-like program which worked a lot like
Improv, but then Sun bought Lighthouse Design and “improved”
all of their products into nothingness.
–
Regards,
JJ
Be Kind, Be Careful, Be Yourself