This is a much modified version of the public domain spread sheet sc,
originally by James Gosling, and posted a number of years ago by Mark
Weiser as vc.

The current maintainer is Chuck Martin ([email protected]).  I
originally got involved with sc because I wanted a good text-based
spreadsheet program, and nothing I could find seemed to suit my needs.
After looking at several different programs, I settled on sc as the
program with the most promise, especially since source code was available,
which meant I could modify it to add the features I needed.  Since it
appeared that no one was maintaining it anymore, I decided to take up
the cause myself.

You'll want to look at the CHANGES file and the man page for more
complete information about what I've done to sc, but here are some of
the highlights:

   - A Y2K bug fix in the @DTS function.
   - Advanced macros (see the file called SC.MACROS).
   - The ability to use sc in a pipeline.
   - Note attachments (implemented as a link to a range).
   - Dotfiles for start-up configuration.
   - Programmable function keys.
   - Framed ranges (similar to Lotus 1-2-3's "Titles" or Excel's
     "Freeze Panels," but much more powerful and versatile).
   - Colors (very powerful implementation).
   - Sorting of ranges.
   - Range name completion (using the TAB key).

Although I've already added all of the "must have" features I needed,
and then some, I'm willing to continue maintaining sc for as long as I'm
able, and I'll certainly share any new features and bugfixes I come up
with.  If anyone else finds any bugs or would like to contribute patches,
please send them to me.  If they're useful and they work, I'll probably
add them.  I prefer to keep it simple, though, since that's what drew me
to sc instead of some other "full-featured" spreadsheet in the first place.
I like the Unix philosophy of making each program do one thing and do it
well, and would rather leave all the fancy graphics and other features to
other programs that are better suited for them.

I've finally renumbered the TODO list, but all of the items in there were
placed there by someone else (except for the undo feature), and I'm not
sure what all of them mean.  If anyone else feels like tackling some of
them (like maybe whoever put them in there), feel free to do so.  I've
never used uemacs, so I'll definitely not be adding the uemacs stuff myself.
The vi key bindings suit me fine.  I've added undo to the TODO list, but I
won't make any promises as to when (or if) I will get to it.  If anyone else
would like to tackle it, feel free to do so.

I've tried to avoid changing key bindings any more than necessary because
it could be confusing to people who have been using sc for years if the
keybindings suddenly change, but in version 7.13, I've finally decided to
change a few things for more compatibility with vi, so that it will be
easier to move back and forth between the two programs.  For example,
the ^F and ^B keys now work like J and K (or PageDown/PageUp).  Also,
the " key is no longer used for entering centered labels because I'm
planning on implementing multiple numbered and/or named delete buffers,
and I wanted that key for selecting buffers, as it does in vi.  I hoped
to have that implemented for version 7.13, but haven't had the time, so
it will have to wait for 7.14.  In the meantime, " does nothing, and the
\ key will take its place for entering centered labels.  This will also
make it easier to enter a so-called "wheel" for filling a cell with a
character or string, since you'll begin such a string by pressing \ twice.
Also, most keyboards have the "\" and "|" on the same key, which should
make it easy to remember because | is already used for centering an existing
string.  I'm sure someone will let me know if this causes any problems. :)

By the way, I'd like to make it clear that sc is not "my" program.  That's
why I haven't placed "my" versions under the GPL, BSD, MIT, or any other
free or open source type license.  I would welcome any input from users of
sc concerning the changes I've made.  Are they useful?  Are there better
ways that some of these changes could have or should have been implemented,
either in programming or in the user interface?  Would there be any interest
in a mailing list to discuss these things?  (I'm not saying that I have the
time to maintain such a list, but it would certainly help to be able to
bounce my ideas off of someone who's actually using the program before
making changes that others may not like.)

Speaking of mailing lists, I've been asked if there is a mailing list
to announce new versions (something totally separate from the suggestion
in the previous paragraph).  Since there isn't much involved in maintaining
such a list, I've decided to do it, so if anyone is interested in being
added to this list, please let me know.  This will not be an automated list.
Everything will be done manually, and all names will be put in a "Bcc:"
header, so there will be no danger of being added to someone's spam list.


IMPORTANT NOTE:

As of version 7.2, the default rounding method has been changed.  The
former default, round-to-even, aka banker's rounding, is still available,
but is no longer the default, since I don't believe most people round
this way, nor do they expect this type of rounding.  If you have older
spreadheets that require it, start sc with the -e option on the command
line.  Older spreadsheets that explicitly set rndinfinity will produce
an error while loading because rndinfinity no longer exists, having been
replaced by rndtoeven, which works exactly opposite to rndinfinity.  The
error is harmless, and the results will still be what you expect, due to
the changed default.  Resaving the file will eliminate the error on
subsequent loads.


More Changes:

The CHANGES file lists the changes from 6.1 to 7.13.  One of the biggest
changes in version 7.3 was the advanced macros.  You can now write macros
in any language you choose.  These have subsequently been improved upon
in later versions.  The documentation is still incomplete, but there is
a file called SC.MACROS that should give you enough information to get
started using this feature.  If you've used these before, be aware that
the screen is no longer automatically redrawn when a macro is finished
unless normal sc operations require it.  If your macro writes directly to
the screen, bypassing sc, you will need to use the redraw command explicitly
when the macro is done.  This is to avoid unecessary screen refreshes and
the flicker that goes with them, since most macros won't need them.

Also, sc can now be configured using a dotfile called .scrc either in your
home directory or the directory in which you start sc (or both).  You can
now change the default filename extensions for the various types of files
sc can create.  See the man page for details.


Colors:

As of version 7.8, sc now supports a very powerful implementation of
color.  Colors can be based on calculations, so that if you're doing a
what-if scenario, and are changing values in various cells until a desired
condition is met, you can use color to alert you as soon as it occurs (the
colors that change don't have to be in the cells that are used in the
calculation).

I'm no longer running ncurses 1.9.9g on any of my machines or machines
I work with, since it seems to have bugs in the handling of color that
I've been unable to find a work-around for, and upgrading to the latest
version seems to eliminate them.  If anyone else finds a way to work
around these bugs, patches are welcome.

If you have a problem getting highlighting to work when color is enabled,
you may want to check the value of ncv in your terminfo file (this can
be checked with the "tput ncv" command at the shell prompt).  This value
should be an even number in order for standout mode to work.  If ncv is
odd, try subtracting one and recompiling.  See the man pages for tic and
infocmp for how to do this.  The linux terminfo file in some older versions
of ncurses is known to have this problem, for example.


Compiling the program:

Before you compile, make sure to check the Makefile and uncomment the
lines that pertain to your system and comment out the lines for Linux.
If you run Linux, this step won't be necessary, since that's the default
(since that's what I run).  I haven't tried compiling or running sc on
anything else, but I've used it on both Slackware 4.0 (with ncurses upgraded
to version 5.2) and Slackware 7.1, so I hope I haven't broken anything for
anyone else.  If you get it to compile and run on something else, please
let me know.  If it doesn't work and you can fix it, please send me a patch.


A couple of notes from the previous maintainer:

1) If you have problems with lex.c, and don't care about arrow keys, define
   SIMPLE (-DSIMPLE in the makefile).  SIMPLE causes the arrow keys to not
   be used.

2) If you have problems with your yacc saying: too many terminals ...127...
   find a different yacc: bison, Berkeley yacc, Pd yacc, etc.  AT&T's Sys V
   yacc has small, fixed sized tables.  SCO will allow dynamic yacc tables
   when given the correct flags.


After you get it built, if you aren't familiar with sc, you might want
to try "sc tutorial.sc" for a simple introduction to the basic commands.
Most of the key bindings are patterned after the vi text editor, so if
you're familiar with that program or its variants, you shouldn't have
any problems learning sc.  The tutorial is a bit out-of-date, and doesn't
include any of the new features I've added since I began maintaining sc.
If anyone would like to rectify this situation, feel free.  The same goes
for the built-in help system (available by pressing `?'), although the
feature list has grown quite a bit, and that may not be easy to do without
some major changes to the way the help system works.

If you've used sc before, you may want to check out the CHANGES file
to see what's changed, and read the man page for more details.

To print a quick reference card, type the command:
	scqref | [your_printer_commmand]

If you have the command 'file' that uses /etc/magic, and it isn't there
already, you may want to add the following lines:

# sc:  file(1) magic for "sc" spreadsheet
#
38	string		Spreadsheet	sc spreadsheet file

Psc formats ascii files for use in the spreadsheet.  If you don't have
getopts, there is a public domain version by Henry Spencer hidden away in
the VMS_NOTES file.

If you'd like to rename the program to something different, just change
"name=sc" and "NAME=SC" to "name=myfavoritename" and "NAME=MYFAVORITENAME"
and try "make myfavoritename".  (Does anyone need or use this?  If so,
please let me know.  Otherwise, I may remove that capability in a future
version, since it seems to me that it reduces confusion if everyone
refers to the program by the same name.  I've been told that there is a
program called Sunshine Commander that used the same name). xxx

Similarly, you can make the documentation with "make myfavoritename.man".
"make install" will make and install the code in EXDIR.  The installation
steps and documentation all key off of the name.  The makefile even changes
the name in the nroffable man page.  If you don't have nroff, you will
have to change sc.man yourself.

Uninstalling the program is now very easy, if you should want to do this.
Just do "make uninstall".


Finding the latest version:

Since ftp.freesoftware.com doesn't seem to be accepting uploads, and
hasn't been for some time now, I've decided to switch to ibiblio.org
(formerly metalab.unc.edu, formerly sunsite.unc.edu) as the primary site
for sc.  The directory where you should be able to find the latest version
is /pub/Linux/apps/financial/spreadsheet.  If you can't find it, e-mail
me.  I know this is a Linux specific source, but it's the only place I know
of.  If anyone knows of a more O/S-neutral location, please let me know.


Disclaimer:

sc is supplied as is with no warranty, express or implied.  It's free--
what do you expect?


Chuck Martin
([email protected])