PortaCalc (AnalytiCalc) Tutorial

     Using a  spreadsheet  is not always easy the first time, and the 
    AnalytiCalc spreadsheet is  no  exception to this.  With a little 
    practice, however, it's possible  to  become  proficient in using 
    its basic commands.  This  tutorial  is  dedicated  to giving you 
    some practice with a simple problem  of  wage  calculations using 
    AnalytiCalc which will lead to some facility using it.

     We will assume AnalytiCalc is already installed on your computer 
    and  that  it  may  be started by giving  a  command  "PC"  at  a 
    terminal.  We will also assume the version of AnalytiCalc that is 
    run in this way is appropriate to the kind of  terminal you have.  
    Since  the  display  can  vary  a  little,  we'll  assume a VT100 
    terminal in  the  example following, but other sorts of terminals 
    can be used.   You should be aware, however, that while the arrow 
    keys work correctly on  VT100  and  VT52  (or Z19/Z89) terminals, 
    they may not on others  and  you'll  have to use the commands 1-4 
    for cursor motion there.

     Now let's consider the problem:

     Assume you're a group leader in a company and want to be able to 
    print out your total labor costs per  week for a group of a dozen 
    or so employees.  You know the labor  costs  per  hour  for  each 
    employee  and  the  number  of  hours  worked on this  particular 
    group's  work  by that employee that week.  You want  to  have  a 
    total cost for each employee, and an overall total cost per week.  
    You'll  enter  the  hours worked, and the labor cost, and get the 
    total.  Then you'll print it out.

     To generate this figure, we'll have to design a simple sheet and 
    print it  when  filled in.  So let's get into the spreadsheet now 
    to do so.

     Remember that in all commands (except direction arrows) you must 
    type a RETURN after  the  command  to  complete  it.  This is not 
    specially  illustrated  in  the  examples   here  but  is  always 
    necessary, just as it is for  most other commands you give to the 
    computer.  Until you press RETURN, you  can  use  the  DEL key to 
    wipe  out  characters  or  the Control-U key to  erase  the  line 
    (standard line editing characters).

     You type:

     PC                    (or whatever starts AnalytiCalc up)

     The sheet will load and print its first screen,  announcing  its 
    presence and authors, and will ask a few preliminary questions.

     The first of these questions is:

     Enter new numeric format default [Y/N]:

     The  default  format  is F9.2, which is FORTRAN-ese for floating 
    point  numbers with 9 total digits displayed and 2 decimal points 
    (appropriate to use for dollars and cents).  This is likely to be 
    OK  for this project.  If we wanted, let us say, 10 digits  total 
    (counting the  decimal point) with one number to the right of the 
    decimal, a format like F10.1 could be used.  But we won't do that 
    here.  (Numbers are  kept  to  17  digits  precision  internally;  
    we're only talking about how much is shown of that.)

     So we reply. Type:
    
     N

     AnalytiCalc will then ask for a title:
     Enter Title of Spreadsheet>

     This is just a title, any 80 characters or less.  You can put in 
    any desired text here and it  will  appear at the top line of the 
    screen and of any printouts of the  screen  you make later.  Just 
    enter a descriptive phrase:

     Weekly Labor Expenses Summary

	The  PDP11  or PC version of AnalytiCalc will  now  ask  some 
    questions about storage allocation.  Tell the program you  expect 
    to use about 10 columns and 20 rows and, when  it  asks for sizes 
    of disk files to use, use its recommended numbers (or a bit more) 
    on the PDP11.  On the PC version you can tell it  to  use 1K disk 
    files (which  will keep it from allocating disk storage) for this 
    tutorial. The VAX version will not need these inputs.

     You now have  a  screen  which displays something like 7 columns 
    and 20 rows, with  the  columns  labelled (initially) A, B, C, D, 
    etc., and the rows labelled 1 through 20.  Your sheet is normally 
    larger and not all of it  fits on the display at once.  Thus, you 
    can move around it and see parts initially not obvious to you.

     In  each cell (row-column intersection) of the  sheet  (and  the 
    screen), you can put a formula, a number,  or  text.  A cursor (a 
    reverse  video block) will move around the screen indicating  the 
    present  active  location.    When you enter this information, it 
    goes into the cell pointed to by this cursor.

     Move the cursor around by using the arrow keys.  Note the cursor 
    moves in the  direction of the arrow keys so long as it can while 
    staying on the screen.

     If you want to move past the edge of the screen, you  do it with 
    a different  command.   The screen cells are called by the column 
    letter and row  number,  using  names  like  A1,  B5, R3, A18, or 
    others.  The next  column  after  Z  is  AA,  then AB, and so on.  
    There is no logical limit  to the number of columns, but there is 
    an installed limit, generally 10000 for PDP11, 18,000 for PC, and 
    32,000 for VAX.

     If you want to see, let us say, columns L through R, you use the 
    command:

     OA L1

     which resets the screen to make L1 appear  at  its  upper right.  
    Any  cell  can be made the upper right.   (Actually,  every  cell 
    displayed can point to an independent part of the worksheet,  but 
    we won't do that here.)

     Now  to  return  the display to the initial one (the upper  left 
    part of the entire sheet), issue the command

     OA A1

     and  things  will be replaced.  To move the cursor to the  upper 
    left cell, also issue the command

     L A1

     which moves the cursor to cell A1 (and this command can move the 
    cursor directly  to  any  named  cell,  EVEN  IF THAT CELL IS NOT 
    CURRENTLY BEING DISPLAYED, though if it isn't displayed you can't 
    see its' value).

     You'll note the commands  are always entered on the next to last 
    line  on  the screen, and  the  last  line  has  some  mysterious 
    contents so far.  The last  line  actually  always  displays  the 
    formula or text in the current cell.

     Now that you've seen the way we  move  a  cursor around, we must 
    design the spreadsheet screen we'll use to work your problem.

     Let's have 8 columns which we'll label EMP  NO,  RATE, MON, TUE, 
    WED, THU, FRI, and TOTAL.  The "EMP-NO" columnn  will  just  have 
    and  employee  number  (for identification), the RATE colunm will 
    have rate  per  hour  for  this employee, and the MON-FRI entries 
    will have hours worked those days.  The TOTAL column will then be 
    the product RATE*(MON+TUE+WED+THU+FRI).

     To enter this information,  we  need  to  set  our  screen up to 
    display 8 columns, 20 rows.    We  also  want  (let's say) only 8 
    characters wide in column 1 and only 8 in column 2, 3, and 4, and 
    the rest stay as they are (default width 10).

     First set up for 8 columns, 20 rows:

     DB 8,20

	Now set up the columns to all have 8 characters.  Type

     S

     The program will reply 

     Alter Display Windows [Y/N]:

    Reply Y since  we  want  to  change  widths  for  all columns.
    
      The program says 

        ENTER NEW GLOBAL COLUMN WIDTH, 1-120: 
     We enter 8

	We  could set the widths individually with  the  DW  command.  
    For instance, to set the third display column  to  a  width of 9, 
    the command is

    DW 3,9

    The program now asks:

    Reset display to Upper Left of sheet [Y/N]:
    We reply N to skip that step.

    The program now asks whether we want a different  default format.  
    Since the old default, F9.2, is 9 characters wide, we  do want to 
    change it, so the question and our reply look like this:

    Enter new floating numeric format default [Y/N]:Y

     The  program  now asks for a new format default.  We will use  a 
    display of 7 digits wide, 2 decimal places, which is expressed as 
    F7.2 here.  The question and answer look like this:

    Enter new format. Suggest F10.2>F7.2

	(Note that we  could  use  the  DF command to set the default 
    format.  The command  to  set  cells  D2  through D14 to the F7.2 
    format would be:

     DF D2:D14 [F7.2] 
    but that is unnecessary now.)

	The program now asks us for the title again.  Enter the title 
    as before.

     Now the screen has the widths we want.  Enter the labels.  Since 
    we're already at the top left, just start:

     Type:

     E EMP NO

     which will leave column A1 showing the text EMP NO and this will 
    appear at the bottom of page.  Now  use  the right arrow to go to 
    cell A2 and type:

     E RATE

     which should leave cell B1 containing the text RATE

     Now move the cursor to cell C1 with the  arrow keys (you can use 
    the 3 command instead if need be).

     Moving  the  cursor this way is tedious where there's a  lot  to 
    enter,  so  let's set the program to do it automatically.   Since 
    the commands 1, 2, 3, and 4 mean also to move up,  down, left, or 
    right  (which  makes  sense on a VT100 keypad since the layout of 
    the arrow  keys is in that order there), we'll use the command M4 
    to set the program to move right automatically after an enter.

     Type the command:

     M4

     To avoid scrolling off the screen type the command also
     NS

     Now go ahead and type commands:

     E MON
     E TUE
     E WED
     E THU
     E FRI
     E TOTAL

    You notice the  top  row is now full of label information and the 
    cursor should now be  sitting  at  cell  H1  on  the TOTAL column 
    (since the auto move can't  change  the settings of what is to be 
    displayed on the screen).

     At this point, we can move  down  and  enter  the one formula we 
    need for each employee.  Type the command:

     L H2

    to move to cell H2 (which will  be  the  first numeric total area 
    below the label).  Enter the desired formula  now.  We use normal 
    parenthesized expressions,  with  cell  names representing values 
    there.  Thus, the formula will look like this:  Type:

     E B2*(C2+D2+E2+F2+G2)

    Notice that a  0.00  appears  rather than the formula, though the 
    last line shows the  formula.   This means that AnalytiCalc knows 
    it was a formula or  number rather than text.  Its' rule for this 
    is that if what's entered contains  any  of  the  characters ".", 
    "+", "-", "(", or "[", it's numeric  and  gets displayed with the 
    default format (unless the format is changed with the DF command) 
    and  otherwise it's text.  If what you enter  has  any  of  these 
    characters in it, you can force it to be text  by including a '"' 
    character in the text somewhere (usually after a lot of spaces so 
    it won't show on a display).

     (This formula could be written as B2*SUM[C2:G2] also.)

     You  now  have  the formula on the first of the individual total 
    lines, but you need to enter one like it on lines H3 through  H14 
    (since there are  a  dozen  names on the list).  Fortunately, you 
    needn't retype the formula.    We'll  copy  it  and  relocate all 
    entries.  Since entries aren't  relocated above or to the left of 
    the cursor, do it while at A1 so all numbers get relocated.  Type 
    the following commands:

     L A1
     CR H2 H3:H14
     V

     This moves you to A1, then copies H2 to the range H3 through H14 
    inclusive with Relocation (changes all B2, C2, D2,  ...    to B3, 
    C3, D3, ...  and so on).  The V command redraws the screen, since 
    AnalytiCalc  will avoid redrawing cells whose value didn't change 
    (and these cells' values didn't just yet).

     Now you  need  a  total for all of them.  Let's make cell A15 be 
    the label for  the  grand total and put the text "ALL" in it, and 
    make cell H15 have the sum of H2 through H14.  Type the following 
    to arrange this:

     L A15
     E ALL
     L H15
     E SUM[H2:H14]

    Note that the SUM function greatly simplifies entering the sum of 
    a whole column (potentially, it simplifies sums of rows too).  We 
    could have used it in the initial  formula  by  making a multiple 
    statement formula in row 2 which would have been like this:

           SUM[C2:G2]\%*B2

         in  which  the  "%" refers to "the result  of  the  previous 
    computation".  This style of multiple statement formulas can save 
    numerous cells and is the easy way to write formulas.    The  "\" 
    character delimits  statements.  We can also express this thought 
    as a formula  like  SUM[C2:G2]*B2,  but  often  formulas  will be 
    clearer when expressed as several computations in sequence.

     Now we have a  complete  set  of  formulas on the screen and are 
    ready  to start entering data.    Enter  a  few  dummy  employees 
    information to see how the computation  goes.    Notice  that the 
    totals  are  updated  at every entry.   (From  this  point,  it's 
    simple).

     Enter commands as follows: (NOT the parenthesized comments)

     L A2
     E 11111
     E 12.55             ($12.55/hr)
     E 7.5               (hrs Monday)
     E 8.0               (Hrs Tuesday. Note the required ".".)
     E 8.0
     E 8.3               (Hrs Thursday)
     E 8.0               (Hrs Friday)
     L A3
     E 12222             (Emp # 12222)
     E 17.50
     E 8.0
     E 8.0
     E 8.0
     E 7.5
     E 8.0

     By now, you notice something:  most of  the hours worked are 8.0 
    per day, with occasional exceptions.  Your life would  be  easier 
    if you could just fix the exceptions and enter the 8.0 entries en 
    masse.  This isn't too hard.

     Use  the  following  commands to enter 8.0 in all remaining hour 
    fields (columns C through G, rows 3 through 14):

    
     L C4      (Move to cell C4, the first to set)
     E 8.0     (Enter desired value)
     CA C4 D4:G4    (Copy so now C4 through G4 have 8.0)

	It  isn't  necessary  to  fill  in the entire region by hand.  
    Type PF1,  then  keypad  9  to  activate  the copy cell to region 
    command.

	It asks for  the  start  cell of the row.  Reply C4.  It then 
    asks for the end  cell  of the row.  We're copying C4 to a region 
    of which it is the  top  left  entry  here,  and  the  top row is 
    defined as C4 to G4.   Therefore  the  end cell of the top row is 
    G4.  Reply G4.

	The program now asks for the Bottom  Left of Left Column.  We 
    want to enter 8.00 in all cells down  to  C14 through G14, so the 
    bottom of the left column of the region is C14.  Reply C14.

	The program will now copy the cell to the  whole region while 
    you watch.

     Now  the  cells all contain the 8.0 entries desired and  we  can 
    fill  in  the  rest of the desired data.  Since we  can  do  this 
    moving vertically, enter a command to move down on enter:

     M2

     Now go to cell A4 and enter the remaining employee numbers:

     L A4
     E 13300
     E 14400
     E 15500
     E 16600
     E 17700
     E 18800
     E 19900
     E 19911
     E 19922
     E 19933
     E 19944

     Now these cells are set up.  We need only fill in  rates and the 
    entire sheet will be set up properly:

     L B4
     E 11.56
     E 12.0
     E 21.4
     E 8.55
     E 15.32
     E 16.0
     E 17.
     E 6.78
     E 17.35
     E 22.50
     E 24.35

    We  now have a full screen and the TOTAL column shows labor costs 
    as desired.  Suppose the last employee only worked 7 hours on the 
    Thursday:  We now just go to that cell and change the value:

    
     L E14
     E 7.0

    Now the sheet is updated.

     You now will probably want to print this to get a hard copy.  To 
    do so, just type

     W

     AnalytiCalc will reply with the request:

     Enter print file spec., / after to omit borders>

     Give the name of  a suitable file on disk or a printer that your 
    system understands.  A suitable reply for PDP11 would be just

     LP:

    which will print the sheet.  For VAX try LPA0:  (or whatever your 
    printer is called).

     The program will churn for a  few seconds and your printout will 
    be on the printer, a copy of  what's  on  the  screen  (with some 
    extensions:  if on VAX you tell it to display 50 rows, they won't 
    be able to be on the screen, but they'll print).

     Since you may need this next week too, with some mods for hours, 
    it's a good idea to save the sheet.  Here's  how  that would look 
    to save the sheet all in a file called WKLYHRS.PCC

     L A1
     PPX
     Enter filename>WKLYHRS.PCC
     Enter max displ down to save or 0>0
     Enter max displ right to save or 0>0

    (This includes  AnalytiCalc  prompts too:  you enter the filename 
    and the zeroes (meaning the whole sheet) to save it all.)

     Now just for fun, let's try this again.
     Use the X command to exit. (Reply Y to the question that
		asks if you really mean it.)

	X

          Now run through  the initial PCC load again and get another 
    blank spreadsheet screen again.  We'll load the saved one in.

     Now we will assume  you  are sitting with the cursor on cell A1.  
    First we have to set up the screen as before:

     L A1
     DB 8,20
     DW 1,8
     DW 2,8
     DW 3,8
     DW 4,8

    Now we load the saved sheet into memory.

     GP
     Enter filename>WKLYHRS.PCC
     Enter max displ down to restore or 0>0
     Enter max displ right to restore or 0>0
     Enter min displ down>1
     Enter min displ right>1

     The program will churn awhile  and  your  original  screen  will 
    reappear.  Note the prompts allow  you  to  save  or  restore any 
    rectangular region.  Saving and restoring are  done  relative  to 
    the  cursor,  so  start  from A1 always unless  you  are  merging 
    multiple  sheets into one larger one.  In that  case,  beware  of 
    formula  changes  too.  (There is another way to write  formulas, 
    using relocatable  cell  numbers  of  form P#col#row or D#col#row 
    which can be freely moved;  see the manual for its use.)

     Notice the display formats were saved and restored.

     Now that you  have  your  saved sheet in memory, suppose someone 
    has been hired into  your  group and you need to add another line 
    to your list.  This  isn't  too  hard.  You use the AR command to 
    add 1 row with formula relocation.   If we want the line to go in 
    above row 14, the way the commands look is thus:

     L A14
     AR 1R

    Now you'll notice that row 14 and  row  15  are identical and the 
    same as the old row 14.  What's happened is that row 14 was moved 
    down, so what was row 14 is now row  15,  and  row  14 is free to 
    use.

     However,  since it still contains its' old contents, we can  use 
    the  fact that all the 8.0 entries and formula entries are  there 
    and  correct,  and  just set up the new employee number and rate, 
    and we're done.  The commands to do this might look like:

     L A14
     E 23541
     L B14
     E 12.75   ($12.75/hr for this employee)

    so  now the sheet is again correct (apart from changes from the 8 
    hour daily hours anywhere).

     If this sheet is to be saved, another PP is needed.

     To exit, type

     X

    which exits from the sheet.


     Additional pre-exit operation:

     Suppose you want  a  report  that  won't  show  the  RATE column 
    directly.  This can  be  arranged  by  just  setting  up a screen 
    display that does not contain  the  B column.  This is easiest to 
    set up with the OR command, which sets up what part of the screen 
    is displayed from the cursor down and  right.    We have to reset 
    column widths of column 2 also, so it  will  be  10  again.   The 
    commands to set the screen up are like these:

     OA A1
     DB 7,20        (We only need 7 columns)
     L B1           (Move to 2nd column)
     OR C1          (Set so we see column C there instead)

    The screen now shows colunns A, C, D, E,  F,  G, and H and may be 
    printed with the W command as it appears.  Note that 20 rows will 
    appear.  Had we wanted to see only the 15 or  16  rows filled in, 
    we would have used a command like DB 7,16 above.  Had  we  wanted 
    not  to  have row and column letters and numbers on the printout, 
    using a  / after the name of the file in the W command does this.  
    The file, if  it goes to disk, may be edited by any system editor 
    or word processor, however.

     For further instruction and commands, the system help command is 
    invoked by typing H (optionally followed by a digit 0 through 9).  
    The PF2 key on VT100 (or  grey on VT52) is also equivalent to the 
    Help  0 command.  Most commands are  briefly  described  in  help 
    pages.  The system manual is in a form to be easily turned into a 
    system help file for VMS or RSX and is  likely to be available as 
    a  help  command.    It contains further descriptions of commands 
    available.   You  will  find  that PF1 is in general treated as a 
    "GOLD" key (a  shift  key)  and  Gold  PF2  will display a keypad 
    diagram for the auxiliary keypad of VT100.

     There  is an alternate  keypad  function  set  which  should  be 
    examined.  If your version  of  AnalytiCalc  supports  it, the H9 
    command will display a diagram of the functions available via the 
    auxiliary keypad on the screen.  Just type

     H9

    and the picture will appear if available.  If  it  isn't, and you 
    have a VT52 or VT100, let your system manager know  you  want it.  
    For other terminals, it isn't always available.

	GLOSSARY

	The following commands are used here:

	Command		Means
	L cell		Locate cursor at cell
	OA cell		Origin Absolute - make cell be upper left
				corner of display
	OR cell		Origin Relative - make cell be where cursor
				is (i.e., relative to cursor)
	DB ncol,nrow	Display Bounds - make display have ncol
				columns and nrow rows on screen
	DW col,width	Display Width - Set display column "col" to
				width characters wide. Use the numeric
				display column numbers at top of screen
				to specify column on display.
	DF cell-range [format] -
			Display Format - set cell range to have display
				format for numbers. Any FORTRAN format is
				legal (up to 9 characters of format spec.)
				and if just [A] is specified, cell displays
				formula text entered in it, not number.
				Cell range can be 1 cell name or 2 cells
				separated by colon (e.g., B2:G2). Ranges
				must lie in a row or column.
	E text		Enter - Enters text into a spreadsheet cell. If
				the text includes ", or does not contain
				one or more of ".", "(", "+", "-", or "[",
				then it is treated as TEXT and the text is
				displayed. Otherwise it is treated as
				numeric and the numeric value is displayed.
				The DF command changes which is shown. Numbers
				MUST contain . characters to be handled
				correctly.
	V		View - Redraws screen, forcing display to be correct.
	R		Recalculate - recomputes sheet. (Normally not needed
				since recomputation is automatic. Best to
				issue this command as RXF to speed it up.)
	Mn		Auto Move in direction n, where n=1,2,3, or 4 for
				up, down, left, or right (M5 means no auto
				motion), AFTER ENTER. This sets up automatic
				motion after Enter commands.
	1,2,3, or 4	Move cursor immediately:
	 or arrow keys		Move immediately in the arrow direction or
				in direction up, down, left, or right
				respectively for 1 through 4.
	W		Write - Writes out screen contents to a file or
				device (e.g., the printer) on your system.
				Produces human readable files, suitable for
				editing into documents.
	PPX		Put Physical Symbolic - Saves spreadsheet info in a
				special format for later read-in, saving
				all formulas. (Note PPN saves numbers only
				(for graphs) and throws out formulas.) Saves
				down and right from cursor, amount saved
				depends on your command. Files are ASCII
				but not intended to be read by humans.
				PDX saves display sheet within bounds, not
				taking bounds or save order from physical
				sheet but from how it's rearranged on display
				screen. Either form can be restored either
				way.
	GP		Get Physical - Reloads special file from a Put
				command into current sheet starting at
				cursor and going down and right. An offset
				from original save may be specified in
				both horizontal and vertical directions
				and partial restores are possible. This
				permits merging sheets.
	Hn		Help - Puts up help pages. There are 10 pages of online
				help, numbered 0 through 9. H8 brings up
				page 8, H0 (or just H) brings up page 0
				which is an index into the rest. PF2
				on VT100's acts as a H command. You may
				issue further Help commands once in the
				help system. A return will return you
				to the sheet.
	X		Exit from the sheet.