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Price-Performance of Computer Technology
Published in Vojin G. Oklobdzija, Digital Design and Fabrication, 2017
Computers in themselves are of little interest to most people. The importance is what the computer can do—the applications. A “killer app” is a computer program that causes a computer to become popular. VisiCalc, the first electronic spreadsheet program, was a killer app for the Apple II computer. Over the years there have been a number of important applications that have driven the sales of computers. Selected applications are listed in Table 4.2 [8–22].
Numerical and statistical analysis using Microsoft Excel
Published in Tariq Muneer, Jorge Kubie, Thomas Grassie, Heat Transfer, 2012
Tariq Muneer, Jorge Kubie, Thomas Grassie
The history of the development of computer spreadsheets may be traced to VisiCalc which, in the early 1970s, created a significant impact in the corporate field. Prior to the launch of spreadsheets, scientists and engineers had not considered the use of personal computers (PCs) worthwhile. However, Visi-Calc changed that image. Some journals claim that without the spreadsheet, the PC would not have developed so rapidly in the early 1980s.
Assessment of water level fluctuation impacts along River Nile, Egypt
Published in Water Science, 2023
Spreadsheets first appeared on personal computers in 1979 in the form of VisiCalc, an application developed to help with accounting tasks (Barker & Sugden, 2003; Zaneldin & Ashur, 2008). Since then, the spreadsheet program diverse applications have been re-appearing in scientific journals. Spreadsheets are, therefore, among the earliest software innovations that had influenced the use of personal computers so widely. Among the strong features of spreadsheets are their intuitive cell-based structure and the simple interface that is easy to use, even for first-time users (Hegazy & Ersahin, 2001a and Hegazy et al. Hegazy & Ersahin, 2001b). There are many examples of models developed by Excel spreadsheets in the literature. Ickert and Hutson (2005) developed a spreadsheet to analyze multiple solutions for engineering problems and produce graphs that convey the solution to the end users. Thiriez (2001) developed spreadsheets to be used as educational tools for students. One example is to use the drawing capabilities of Excel to represent decision trees and where window switching and macros allow the educator to animate his presentation. Another example presented by Thiriez (2001) is the use of Excel in dynamic (deterministic or stochastic) programming, where Excel functions facilitate the development of specialized models.