gnumeric-doc 1.12.35-1.1 / usr / share / help / C / gnumeric / welcome.xml

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  This is at the top level to avoid any chapter TOC.
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<para>
  &gnum; is a spreadsheet, a computer
  program used to manipulate and analyze numeric
  data. &gnum; can help you keep track of
  information in lists, organize numeric values in columns and rows,
  perform and update complex calculations by defining each step of the
  calculation and modifying particular steps subsequently, create and
  display or print graphical plots of data using bar plots, line
  graphs, pie charts or radar charts, implement complex optimization
  modeling or perform many other tasks involving numbers, dates,
  times, names or other data.
</para>

<para>
  The features of &gnum; make it
  versatile and powerful. The screenshot (picture) of
  &gnum; shown in <xref
  linkend="fig-gnumeric-power-example" /> demonstrates the main
  program window and some of the features currently available.

  <figure id="fig-gnumeric-power-example">
    <title>An example of what Gnumeric can do.</title>
    <screenshot>
      <mediaobject>
        <imageobject>
          <imagedata fileref="figures/gnumeric-power-example.png" 
              format="PNG" />
        </imageobject>
        <textobject>
          <phrase>An image of &gnum;
          showing the use of complex formatting and several graphical
          plots.</phrase>
        </textobject>
	<caption>
	  <para>
	    An example of &gnum;, shrunk to fit in this document.
	  </para>
	</caption>
      </mediaobject>
    </screenshot>
  </figure>

  &gnum; currently supports a full
  complement of calculation functions, formatting options, graph
  types and drawing options.
  </para>

<para>
      
</para>

<para>
  &gnum; aims to be the best
  spreadsheet available. It has been developed over many
  years to become mature and mathematically
  correct. &gnum; was created and is
  maintained by the <ulink type="http"
  url="http://www.gnome.org/">GNOME</ulink> project.  This manual
  describes version &appversion; of &gnum;.
</para>
<note>
  <para>
    Releases of &gnum; in the &appversion; series have numbers starting
    with &appversion; but with extra numbers afterwards, such as &appversion;.0 or
    &appversion;.3. These are stable releases which are only changed with minor
    improvements and fixes for problems (bugs) in the program. These
    releases can be considered safe for use in a production
    environment.
  </para>
</note>

<warning>
  <para>
    The &devversion; series of releases are unstable releases meant for
    developer testing. If you want a stable release get the most recent
    release from the &appversion; series.
  </para>
</warning>


<para>
  <emphasis role="bold">Goals of Gnumeric</emphasis>
</para>
<para>
  &gnum; is developed with a specific set of
  goals in mind.
  <itemizedlist>
    <listitem>
      <para>
	<emphasis role="bold">Stability</emphasis>
      </para>
      <para>
        &gnum; has undergone significant
        amounts of testing. A diverse group of users evaluates
        &gnum; in a wide variety of
        environments. Testing workbooks are used to assess the
        mathematical correctness of the calculations and to validate
        the quality of the file importers.
      </para>

    </listitem>

    <listitem>
      <para>
	<emphasis role="bold">Accuracy</emphasis>
      </para>
      <para>
        Calculating the correct answer is important, and &gnum;
	has worked hard to surpass the competition.  Recent
	<ulink type="http" url="http://www.csdassn.org/software_reports.cfm">reports</ulink>
	indicate that it has done so.
      </para>
    </listitem>

    <listitem>
      <para>
	<emphasis role="bold">File compatibility</emphasis>
      </para>
      <para>
        Transparent access and manipulation of files from other
        applications is vital in a modern office. The
        &gnum; file format is simply
        compressed XML which can be decompressed using
        <application>gunzip</application>, the GNU
        <application>gzip</application> program's decompression utility, into
        text. &gnum; can open files from
        several well known proprietary and free spreadsheets including
        MS Excel<trademark/>, Lotus 1-2-3<trademark/>,
        Applix<trademark/>, OpenOffice.org<trademark/>,
        Psion<trademark/>, Sylk<trademark/>, XBase<trademark/>,
        Oleo<trademark/>, PlanPerfect<trademark/>, Quattro
        Pro<trademark/>&nbsp;and HTML. &gnum; 
        can save files to several versions of the MS Excel<trademark/>&nbsp;file
        format and can save tables into LaTeX
        <markup>\longtable</markup>, HTML, and roff
        files. &gnum; also benefits from
        a highly configurable text importer and exporter which ensures
        that data can be transferred smoothly, and allows new formats
        to be added easily as plug-in software routines.
      </para>
    </listitem>

    <listitem>
      <para>
        <emphasis role="bold">Minimal cost of transition</emphasis>
      </para>
      <para>
        Learning new and unfamiliar interfaces is an expensive and
        frustrating process. &gnum;
        attempts to present itself so that a user's familiarity with
        other applications will still apply and to offer new features
        in an intuitive manner.
      </para>
    </listitem>

    <listitem>
      <para>
	<emphasis role="bold">Extensive feature set</emphasis>
      </para>
      <para>
        &gnum; now has enough of the
        features that users expect in a spreadsheet to provide for the
        vast majority of user needs. However, new features are
        constantly being added. People often quote the statistic that
        most users only need 20% of the features of the software they
        use. This statistic does not mean that only 20% of the
        features are needed but, rather, that most users share a
        common need for 10% of the features and require distinct
        features for the rest of their
        work. &gnum; attempts to provide
        full implementations of the features it offers, leaving
        features unimplemented until a robust and complete
        implementation exists.
      </para>
    </listitem>

    <listitem>
      <para>
        <emphasis role="bold">Internationalization</emphasis>
      </para>
      <para>
	&gnum; has been translated into
	46 languages, and is being used by people around the globe with the
	symbols and date/monetary conventions appropriate for their local
	setting.
      </para>
    </listitem>

    <listitem>
      <para>
	<emphasis role="bold">Scalability</emphasis>
      </para>
      <para>
        The core architecture is designed to ensure that
        &gnum; can comfortably scale to
        moderately large loads (1 million cells) while remaining
        usable on older hardware.
      </para>
    </listitem>

    <listitem>
      <para>
	<emphasis role="bold">Openness</emphasis>
      </para>
      <para>
        &gnum; is <ulink type="http"
        url="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html">free
        software</ulink> in the sense of giving its users several
        freedoms related to the program including the freedoms to use,
        modify and redistribute the program. These freedoms are
        explained at the <ulink type="http"
        url="http://www.fsf.org">Free Software Foundation</ulink> web
        site page on the <ulink type="http"
        url="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html"> philosophy
        of free software</ulink>. In order to maintain these freedoms
        for everyone, certain restrictions are required which prevent
        anyone limiting these freedom for others.
        &gnum; is therefore released
        under a particular license agreement;
        &gnum; is licensed under the
        terms of the <ulink type="http"
        url="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html">GNU GPL</ulink>.
      </para>
      <para>
        One of the consequences of these freedoms, is that everyone
        can have access to the source code used to create
        &gnum;. This code is explicitly
        maintained and documented to make it easy for anyone to modify
        in any way they choose. This makes it possible to modify the
        spreadsheet, write custom routines or extend
        &gnum; for special needs.
      </para>
    </listitem>

  </itemizedlist> 
</para>


<para>
  <emphasis role="bold">The Gnumeric &devversion; Series of Releases for Developers</emphasis>
</para>

<para>
  The &gnum; &devversion; series of releases are
  developer releases. These releases are kept as stable as
  possible. However, each release in this series includes changes and
  improvements some of which may be quite large. These new changes may
  cause the program to crash and loose data. Do not use these releases
  if you cannot afford to loose any data or work. However, these
  releases include many new features that can be helpful. If you use
  this series, backup your data often, not just by saving files but by
  renaming them and checking that they can be reopened. If you
  experience mistakes or crashes while you are using this version,
  please report these using the GNOME project's bug reporting
  interface as detailed in <xref linkend="chapter-bugs" />.
</para>

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<para>
  In this version of &gnum;, we have been patching bugs, and working on the 
  following features:

  <itemizedlist>
    <listitem>
      <para>
        <emphasis role="bold">...Topic...</emphasis>
      </para>
      <para>
	Comment...
      </para>
    </listitem>
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</para>
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<para>
  <emphasis role="bold">New features introduced in the Gnumeric 1.12 release
  series:</emphasis>
</para>

<para>
  The 1.12 series of &gnum; is primarily a port of &gnum; to version 3 of the GTK library. It alos includes some other improvements over the versions in the 1.10 series.

  <itemizedlist>
    <listitem>
      <para>
        <emphasis role="bold">Improved OpenDocument Format (ODF) support</emphasis>
      </para>
      <para>
	Both ODF import and export have been improved.
      </para>
    </listitem>
  </itemizedlist>
</para>


<para>
  <emphasis role="bold">New features introduced in the Gnumeric 1.10 release
  series:</emphasis>
</para>

<para>
  The 1.10 series of &gnum; includes
  numerous improvements over the versions in the 1.8 series.

  <itemizedlist>
    <listitem>
      <para>
        <emphasis role="bold">Adjustable Sheet Size</emphasis>
      </para>
      <para>
	Sheets are no longer restricted to 256 columns of 65536 rows.
      </para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
      <para>
        <emphasis role="bold">Improved OpenDocument Format Import and Export</emphasis>
      </para>
      <para>
	Basic import and export support for the
	<ulink type="http" url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ODF"> OpenDocument Format </ulink> ("ODF")
	format was added, focussing on standard spreadsheet content and charts. Gnumeric also supports 
	nearly all functions in the large group of functions in the current OpenFormula Draft.
      </para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
      <para>
        <emphasis role="bold">Improved Microsoft OfficeOpenXML import and export</emphasis>
      </para>
      <para>
	Import and export of
	<ulink type="http" url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ooxml"> Office Open XML </ulink> ("OOXML")
	format files was significantly improved.
      </para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
      <para>
        <emphasis role="bold">New and Improved Graphs</emphasis>
      </para>
      <para>New plot types for surfaces and probability plots have been added. Moreover, when an axis 
	is a date or time axis, reasonable places for tick marks will 
	now be picked. Trend lines have 
	also been improved
      </para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
      <para>
        <emphasis role="bold">Conditional Formatting</emphasis>
      </para>
      <para>&gnum; now supports conditional formatting of cells. &gnum;'s
      conditional formatting supports an arbitrary number of conditions.
      </para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
      <para>
        <emphasis role="bold">Faster Evaluation</emphasis>
      </para>
      <para>Evaluation of some fairly common sheets with
	large numbers of calls to HLOOKUP, or similar functions,
	over the same database have been improved from &ldquo;rather
	slow&rdquo; to &ldquo;instant&rdquo;.  Similar improvements have been
	implemented for farms of RANK or PERCENTILE calls.
      </para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
      <para>
        <emphasis role="bold">Reduced Memory Usage</emphasis>
      </para>
      <para>The memory usage for large sheets has been decreased significantly.
      </para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
      <para>
        <emphasis role="bold">Added Statistical Analysis Tools</emphasis>
      </para>
      <para>The statistical analysis tools have been improved and
	there are quite a few new ones, for example Kaplan Meier Estimates, 
	Normality Tests, Principal Component Analysis, Sign Tests, 
	improved Exponential Smoothing, various basic non-parametric tests, etc.
      </para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
      <para>
        <emphasis role="bold">Improved Sheet Objects</emphasis>
      </para>
      <para>
	Support for sheet objects (lines, arrows, widgets, &hellip;) has been improved.
      </para>
    </listitem>
  </itemizedlist>
</para>


<para>
  <emphasis role="bold">New features introduced in the Gnumeric 1.8 release
  series:</emphasis>
</para>

<para>
  The 1.8 series of &gnum; includes
  numerous improvements over the versions in the 1.6 series.

  <itemizedlist>
    <listitem>
      <para>
        <emphasis role="bold">Improved .gnumeric and export</emphasis>
      </para>
      <para>
	&gnum; now uses the faster SAX based parser by default for parsing
	<literal>.gnumeric</literal> files. The schema was improved and
	additional features were added.
      </para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
      <para>
        <emphasis role="bold">Microsoft OfficeOpenXML import and export</emphasis>
      </para>
      <para>
	Basic import and export support for the
	<ulink type="http" url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ooxml"> Office Open XML </ulink> ("OOXML")
	format was added, focussing on standard spreadsheet content. 
	Charts and embedded objects are not yet supported.
      </para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
      <para>
        <emphasis role="bold">New value formatting engine</emphasis>
      </para>
      <para>
	Improved compatibility and performance.
      </para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
      <para>
        <emphasis role="bold">Use new Gtk based Printing</emphasis>
      </para>
      <para>
	The printing infrastructure was changed to use Gtk based printing
	instead of the deprecated libgnomeprint libraries.
      </para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
      <para>
        <emphasis role="bold">Improved in-cell drop downs</emphasis>
      </para>
      <para>
	In cell validation lists, and improved finger feel for autofilters.
      </para>
    </listitem>
  </itemizedlist>
</para>

<para>
  <emphasis role="bold">New features introduced in the Gnumeric 1.6 release
  series:</emphasis>
</para>

<para>
  The 1.6 series of &gnum; included
  numerous improvements over the versions in the 1.4 series.

  <itemizedlist>
    <listitem>
      <para>
        <emphasis role="bold">Better Charting: </emphasis>
      </para>
      <para>
	Several new types of charts have been added, and many features, such as
	regression lines, have been added.
      </para>
    </listitem>

    <listitem>
      <para>
        <emphasis role="bold">Improved Accuracy: </emphasis>
      </para>
      <para>
	  While &gnum; 1.4 was already the best available source for accuracy
	  in statistical calculations, &gnum; 1.6 is even better. We are
	  continuing our behind-the-scenes cooperation with The R Project to
	  make this happen. We have also added a new plugin supplying
	  consistently named probability density, cumulative density, and
	  reverse cumulative density functions to &gnum;. The new function
	  names mirror their R counterparts.
      </para>
    </listitem>

    <listitem>
      <para>
        <emphasis role="bold">The Port to Microsoft Operating Systems</emphasis>
      </para>
      <para>
	  Our "Windows" port is now mature enough for everyday use. We have
	  improved the theming support of our custom widgets, so Gnumeric now
	  looks and feels slightly more like a native application. The build
	  might still have a few rough edges, but those are being worked on.
      </para>
    </listitem>

    <listitem>
      <para>
        <emphasis role="bold">Right-to-Left Support: </emphasis>
      </para>
      <para>
	  We now support right-to-left orientation of the sheets as well as
	  for text within cells.
      </para>
    </listitem>
  </itemizedlist>
</para>

<para>
  <emphasis role="bold">New features introduced in the Gnumeric 1.4 release
  series:</emphasis>
</para>
        
<para>
  The 1.4 series of &gnum; included
  numerous improvements over the versions in the 1.2 series.

  <itemizedlist>

    <listitem>
      <para>
        <emphasis role="bold">The Port to Microsoft Operating Systems</emphasis>
      </para>
      <para>
        The port of the core of &gnum; to
        the GTK+ libraries will enable the application to be run on
        the series of operating systems sold by Microsoft and
        colloquially known as "Windows".
      </para>
    </listitem>

    <listitem>
      <para>
        <emphasis role="bold">Improved Analytics</emphasis>
      </para>
      <para>
        The analytical correctness of
        &gnum; is a primary concern of
        the team. The precision and correctness of the analytics are
	constantly being evaluated and improved.  Updated versions of the
	solver libraries (lp_solve and GLPK) were added.
      </para>
    </listitem>

    <listitem>
      <para>
        <emphasis role="bold">Improved Charting</emphasis>
      </para>
      <para>
        The graphical system is improving rapidly with new types of
        graphs, such as radar plots.  There is now support for error bars
	and additional styles.  The plots also look significantly sharper on
	screen, and off thanks to some pixel tuning.  The axes now support
	various mappings (logarithmic, inverse), and there are a wider
	selection of markers.  There is also support for formatting individual
	points in a plot.
      </para>
    </listitem>

    <listitem>
      <para>
        <emphasis role="bold">Rich Text In Cells</emphasis>
      </para>
      <para>
        The ability to use Rich Text has been added in this
        version. This allows a single cell to contain text with mixed
        formatting including bold, italic and other formats.
      </para>
    </listitem>

    <listitem>
      <para>
        <emphasis role="bold">Improved Microsoft Excel Compatibility</emphasis>
      </para>
      <para>
        The file format used by the Microsoft Excel<trademark/>&nbsp;
        spreadsheet is commonly used to exchange spreadsheet
        documents. The &gnum; team spends
        a considerable effort reverse engineering that file format to
        ensure that &gnum; can read and
	write files in that format.  This release now supports all forms of
	'array formula' and adds export support for charts, rich text, and images.
	More compatibility accelerator keys were added to simplify transition,
	and improve the finger feel.  There is better support for hyperlinks.
      </para>
    </listitem>

    <listitem>
      <para>
        <emphasis role="bold">Printing</emphasis>
      </para>
      <para>
	Using <application>Pango</application> throughout the printing subsystem
	improves the consistency between on screen and resulting paper.
      </para>
    </listitem>

    <listitem>
      <para>
        <emphasis role="bold">Improved Analytics:</emphasis>
      </para>
      <para>
        This version of &gnum; includes
        470 sheet functions including all of the functions from the
        North American edition of Microsoft Excel 2000 (TM). This
        version also includes numerous new functions and statistical
        routines imported from the <application><ulink type="http"
        url="http://www.r-project.org/">R</ulink></application>
        statistical language, from the <ulink type="http"
        url="http://www.gnu.org/software/gsl/">GNU Scientific
        Library</ulink>, and from other sources. The random number
        generation has been updated to include Beta, Cauchy,
        Chi-Squared, Exponential power F, Gamma, Geometric, Laplace,
        Levy alpha-Stable Logarithmic, Logistic, Log-normal, Pareto,
        Rayleigh Rayleigh tail, T, Type I Gumbel, Type II Gumbel,
        Weibull Gaussian Tail, Landau, and Uniform integer
        distributions. The derivative valuation routines have been
        expanded to include Black-Scholes (and sensitivities), Garman
        Kohlhagen, Merton Jump Diffusion process, Bjerksund and
        Stensland (American options), Forward Starts, Simple and
        Complex Choosers, Exchange Options, options on future spreads,
	and most favourable state payouts. The solver has been improved with
	new linear and quadratic programming routines.  There were improvements
	in the T-Test, Z-Test, and F-Test.  More accuracy for GEOMDIST,
	BINOMDIST, BETADIST, BETAINV, FINV, CAUCHY, FDIST, FTEST, HYPGEOMDIST,
	ERF, FISHER, EFFECT, NOMINAL, MIRR, IRR, XNPV, NPV, PMT, RATE, PV, FV,
	IPMT, PPMT, ZTEST, EXPM1, LN1P.
      </para>
    </listitem>

    <listitem>
      <para>
        <emphasis role="bold">Import/Export</emphasis>
      </para>
      <para>
	The xml exporter is now much faster and lighter for 
	<literal>.gnumeric</literal> files,
	and the GNOME enabled &gnum; supports gnome-vfs
	and drag-n-drop images and files.
      </para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
      <para>
        <emphasis role="bold">GTK+ Port</emphasis>
      </para>
      <para>
        One of the principal aims of this developers series is to make
        &gnum; work using only the GTK+
        libraries. These libraries, following their 2.4.0 release,
        have all the functionality needed for the core of
        &gnum;. This work will remove all
        dependencies in the core code on GNOME libraries although a
        version with the more complete features included in GNOME will
        still exist.
      </para>
    </listitem>

</itemizedlist>

</para>


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    <listitem>
      <para>
        <emphasis role="bold">Improved File Import and Export:</emphasis>
      </para>
      <para>
        The ability to import and export files of different formats
        has been greatly improved. &gnum; 
        now supports Applix<trademark/>, Excel<trademark/> 1997, 2000
        and XP formats (possibly encrypted), Lotus<trademark/>,
        OpenOffice.org<trademark/>, Plan Perfect<trademark/>, and
        Quattro Pro<trademark/>. These file tools have been made more
        robust by using the GNOME Structured File library.
      </para>
    </listitem>

    <listitem>
      <para>
        <emphasis role="bold">Improved Graphing:</emphasis>
      </para>
      <para>
        The earlier versions of &gnum; 
        relied on the <application>Guppi</application> program for
        graphing. This has been changed in the current version which
        uses a newer framework for the production of graphs. This
        newer framework should provide quicker graphs and will be a
        better platform for future development.
      </para>
    </listitem>

    <listitem>
      <para>
        <emphasis role="bold">Improved Structure based on GTK 2.0:</emphasis>
      </para>
      <para>
        This version of &gnum; is based
        on the second version of the Gimp Tool Kit (GTK+), the basic
        libraries of computer code used to build GNOME
        applications. This second version improves on the first and
        provides a sound basis for future programming. Users will
        benefit greatly from this second version of the GTK+
        libraries. &gnum; is now able to
        produce characters from a much larger range of languages, has
        improved icons, is better integrated with GNOME and has other
        visual improvements like anti-aliased
        fonts. &gnum; can also now be
        used without problem on a machine with several screens. The
        transition to GTK+ 2.0 has also greatly improved performance.
      </para>
    </listitem>

  </itemizedlist>

</para>

-->

<para>
    The 1.4.x release is dedicated to the memory of lost colleagues, <emphasis
    role="bold">Chema (Grandma) Celorio</emphasis> who helped make
    &gnum; as stable as it is,  and <emphasis
    role="bold">Mel Seder</emphasis> who kept us smiling.  They'll be missed.
</para>

<para>
  For more details on the changes in
  &gnum;, refer to the file; named NEWS in
  the source code distribution.
</para>

<para>
      
</para>

<para>
  <emphasis role="bold">Known Issues in Gnumeric:</emphasis>
</para>
        
<para>
  The current list of all known and reported problems with
  &gnum; is maintained in the GNOME
  bugzilla database. This list can be accessed using <ulink
  type="http"
  url="http://bugzilla.gnome.org/buglist.cgi?product=Gnumeric&amp;bug_status=UNCONFIRMED&amp;bug_status=NEW&amp;bug_status=ASSIGNED&amp;bug_status=NEEDINFO&amp;bug_status=REOPENED&amp;order=bugs.bug_id">this
  bugzilla query</ulink>. 
</para>
        
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