September 16, 1992 ***************************************************************** NOTICE: It has come to my attention that the phrase "1-2-3" is a trademark. Hence I have changed "Focus 1-2-3" to "Quick Focus." This is the only change from version 2.0F. ***************************************************************** FLEABYTE/SX - 2.1F ( FBSX_21F.ACC ) A simple desktop calculator capable of storing away calculations as well as notes and of communicating directly to wordprocessors and which includes an easy-to-use spreadsheet facility, QUICK FOCUS Fleabyte accessories are extended calculators. There are four basic models: sx (simplex), ffs (full-function scientific), sf (significant figures), and bns (basic natural science). How they are used has been described in a Users' Guide accompanying version 1.0 of these accessories. On disks they are identified as: FBSX_10.ACC, FBFF_10.ACC, FBSF_10.ACC, and FBNS_10.ACC. Those, as well as the present calculator, FBSX_20F.ACC, are of- fered as freeware. Also issued as freeware is the "Wormhole," Model WHSX_10D, the last letter identifying it as a demo version. New Features 1. The principal new feature of version 2 is "Quick Focus," an easy-to-use, fast spreadsheet facility whose use is described below. 2. Working with columns of numbers one likes to be able to set the number of decimals. This is done by entering on the blank input dash a tilde, ~. This then will invite you to type in the number of decimal places: _ < when entering the above expression: >(1+5%)*$1000 Press RETURN, or ENTER. Instead of responding with an answer as Fleabyte would without that hook in front, it now comes back with >>(1+5%)*$1000 The double hooks ask you to 1. identify the variable with a ' 2. alter the variable to the end of a spread of values, i.e. delete 5, type in the other value. I chose 10: >>(1+'10%)*$1000 and pressed RETURN. Now the second line reports the spread and asks for an increment: (a little triangle) 5 >>_ I typed 1 and pressed RETURN. This produces an equation with the expression, (1+5%)*$1000 =, on the left side of the first line and the answer, $1050.00, on the right side of the second line. Press the RETURN key again, which gives you (1+6%)*$1000 = $1060.00, and again, etc. until you get the comment "scan done." RETURN will fetch you the input line again. Where did the information go? It was fed into a variable called spreadsheet$ for later transfer to disk. Right now we don't wish to make that transfer because we want to add two more columns, - we must now do two "multifocus" operations. For multifocus enter & and press RETURN. This will get you back the original expression, but this time with & instead of > &(1+5%)*$1000 A note on the interface invites you to alter this expression. For a period of two years we change it to &(1+5%)^2*$1000 where ^2 does the compounding. Then press RETURN. Next we identify the variable with '. We don't need to bother with typing in the other limit of the spread because Fleabyte already knows that: $(1+'5%)^2*$1000 RETURN now produces $(1+5%)^2*$1000 = $1102.50. Additional use of the RETURN key produces results for the other percentages. When meeting again "scan done," press RETURN for a blank input line and enter & for the last column. RETURN gives you again &(1+5%)*$1000 which you change to &(1+5%)^3*$1000 RETURN: >>(1+5%)^2*$1000 Put in the marker ': >>(1+'5%)^3*$1000 RETURN, RETURN, etc. until "scan done" is reached and once more press RETURN. All the percentages and answers end up in that one variable called spreadsheet$ which can hold 32767 characters, and that is quite a lot. Our next job is to store all that informa- tion safely for use by the wordprocessor. No, direct transfer is out of the question here. We would have to fiddle rather reck- lessly with the operating system's in/output buffer. We'll send it to disk: press RETURN for a blank input line and enter #. RETURN will now get the statement, "path: A:\FOCUS.TXT" Type in your choice of drive, or just press RETURN if you are happy with drive A. You will immediately hear the drive spin while the variable spreadsheet$ dumps its load into FOCUS.TXT. Depending on you wordprocessor you can pick this up with a MERGE command or a READ command or whatever. (I couldn't do this with Word-Up, though.) The rest is done on the wordprocessor - tab- bing, headings, horizontal lines. No fiddling with such spread- sheet isoterics as /WCSn and /WIC and a host of others after already having bypassed such goodies as /RFFn, /DF and their ilk. No I am not knocking spreadsheet programs, such as our ST's beloved LDW. But it seems to me that Fleabyte puts a great deal of the spreadsheet's convenience at the finger tips of people who don't care to take a one-semester course because their needs for spreadsheets is only occasional. You may have observed - and in particular I hope that teachers have observed this - that I did not employ algebraic formulas. I hope that Fleabyte may become a means of looking at simple problems in non-formal ways. Although I am all for exploiting formalities (algorithms) for the sake of efficiency, I do not see them as substitutes for valuable insights such as may be gleaned by science students from this set of pressure-vs-volume data obtained with the Van der Waals Equation of State as written for one mole of gas, (P+a/V^2)*(V-b)=RT and in which P = pressure, V = volume, T = temperature, R = universal gas constant, 0.08206 l.atm^2/k.mol, and a and b are the Van der Waals constant for the substance under consideration. Rearranging this for 0.1 l (or 10^-1 l) of carbon tetrachloride (a = 20.39 atm.l^2/mol^2; b = 0.1383 l/mol) at 273 K we obtain: 0.08206*273/(10^-1-.1383)-20.39/10^-1^2 The independent variable, volume, appears twice and hence it is identified twice: 0.08206*273/(10^'-1-.1383)-20.39/(10^'-1)^2 However, the alteration needs to be made only once, and whether you pick on the first -1 or on the second one matters not. P-V Data for Carbon Tetrachloride using the V.d. Waals Equation of State ============================================ log(V, l) P, atm 273 K 373 K 473 K ============================================ -1.0 | -1814.976 | -2838.174 | -3052.430 -0.5 | -133.057 | -31.873 | 14.247 0.0 | 2.012 | 15.131 | 24.654 0.5 | 5.045 | 8.083 | 10.797 1.0 | 2.036 | 2.900 | 3.732 1.5 | 0.688 | 0.952 | 1.212 2.0 | 0.222 | 0.304 | 0.387 2.5 | 0.071 | 0.097 | 0.123 3.0 | 0.022 | 0.031 | 0.039 ============================================ Because spreadsheets like these can be made fast and without any esoteric knowledge of conventional spreadsheet programming they permit rapid refocusing for interesting detail. That's why I think an accessory like Fleabyte will show itself to be especial- ly useful in education. There are a few features of Quick Focus I want to briefly touch on. You may interrupt work on adding columns to a spreadsheet by doing some calculations in between. As soon as you press &, Fleabyte picks up things where they were left off. Except after sending the file to disk. When the file is sent to disk, the spreadsheet$ variable is emptied and that takes you out of the multifocus mode. If Fleabyte has a spreadsheet in memory at a time you begin a new one, i.e make an entry beginning with >, you will suddenly hear the drives and you will see the message [AUTOSAVE.FB] If this scares you a bit, just relax for Fleabyte remembered to do what you forgot. The Focus feature with Fleabyte\ffs 2.0 will also be able to read this file for later adding to it. That one variable, spreadsheet$, can hold up to 32767 characters, good for a big table. The program shows you what percentage of this variable is filled up after each operation. It probably will not even come to one percent most of the time. And then there is the memory of expressions and answers. To avoid filling it up with similar material it will only store the first lines or starting expressions. Just call it up with ? and step through it with < and >. Can things go wrong? O, yes. With a wide open input line one can type in anything! However, one reaps what one sows. There is a modicum of automated help, though. If you put in the marks for the variables at the wrong time, they will be dropped. If you forget those marks at the right time you will be prodded to put them in. IF YOU DO NOT DO SO YOU ARE CAUGHT IN A LOOP. The price you pay for getting out of it is to type '; small price, really. Working with Experimental Data If you like to do a calculation on a set of experimental data start your spreadsheet the same as before and tag with an the experimental datum. However do not enter when asked for an interval. Just press RETURN instead. You are then asked for the next experimental value. After all your experimental values (you find that Fleabyte numbers them) are entered just press RETURN once more. That's enough, a two-column spread- sheet is made and ready to be put on a disk. Ever thought that making a spreadsheet could be that easy? Henry K. van Eyken 11 Falcon Lakefield, Que. J0V 1K0 Canada P.S. The programming was done on a 4-Mbyte STe with GFA BASIC v. 3.07 U. The wordprocessor mostly used for this job was 1st Word Plus. P.P.S. If you have some suggestions for improving Fleabyte, I would love to hear from you. - v.E.