Sheets Spreadsheets in Your Terminal
github.com103 points by _____k 2 days ago
103 points by _____k 2 days ago
Visidata is a fast popular data tool in python https://www.visidata.org/ if you just want data entry.
If I may be permitted a small plug ...
Oleo is a GNU spreadsheet going back absolutely donkey years. I cloned the repo here: https://github.com/blippy/oleo and made minimalist fixes to get the thing to compile.
I also based my own terminal-based spreadsheet based off of it call neoleo: https://github.com/blippy/neoleo
I wouldn't say that my project is particularly good, but it does have a number of features that I find useful. The next release will include Tcl bindings, so you can customise some of the workings of the app. There's also a module available where you can go to town programmatically.
It opens up a world of possibilities, including stuff like pivot tables.
package require oleo
load-oleo mysheet.oleo
set ws [toMat]
set subset [subRows $ws [mand [mstreq 2 foo] [mstreq 3 bar]]
I'm kinda dog-fooding it at the moment to put in place features that I need. It doesn't have the full equivalence of SQL-equivalent though.
Thanks for showing this. What would you say the differences between the classic version of oleo and your neoleo version?
vd (visidata) is amazing. The only tool that really works for me with millions of rows csv's
You might say … it's As Easy As[2] 1-2-3?[1]
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_1-2-3
[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As-Easy-As
What's old is new again.
Semi-related: I always wished there was something like the unholy combination of a spreadsheet and notebook rolled into one. I picture it notebook-like at the top level, then each cell is a widget that the host language can reference parts of in other cells (probably with a variable (eg: something like mathematicas `Out[_]`) or a built in construct (like the `$ABC123` forms in spreadsheet formulas)). A notebook interface would also be good (I think) as a straight up terminal as well, as you (I) typically want to run commands in an order like in a notebook
Some time ago, I remember Microsoft having made a video for a "courier tablet" that was essentially an electronic notebook. Either side of the spine was, by default, just plain "paper" that could be drawn or written on. It had some kind of intelligence to recognize stuff, so if you started drawing out a grid it had basic capabilities that could be attached to that grid, like spreadsheets.
At least, these are things I think I remember. It's not quite what you're imagining, but it was cool and along the same lines.
All spreadsheets used to run in your terminal, in the old days. You can still download one here and I wouldn't be surprised if it still works: https://winworldpc.com/product/quattro-pro/4x
You can run Lotus 1-2-3 for Unix in modern Linux : https://github.com/taviso/123elf
Lotus 1-2-3 was the first spreadsheet I ever used around age 9 so this is really bringing me back!
there are some videos about quattro in those days and i was sincerely surprised how featured and advanced it was
the ratio of space / cpu / capabilities (beside the network part) is something that reaches deep in my brain
If I’m remembering correctly, I had bought a Borland Turbo C++ compiler circa 1994 (for DOS) that came with a demo sheets application you could build and run.
Does anyone remember this, I can’t find it now.
See also, one of the older / more-robust entrants in this space [0], and one of the more innovative (still from a hot-second ago now…) [1].
All the best,
Teapot is pretty great, it's too bad there is close to zero room for real innovation in the spreadsheet domain. For the most part if it's not spreadsheeting how prophet Dan Bricklin envisioned, people don't want it.
See also: lotus improv
Actually... on that note I realized have never tried lotus improv.
I found a copy of the win3.1 version here. https://archive.org/details/lotus-improv-2.0-for-windows-2.0...
But my plan is to go for the full nerd experiance and see if I can get the nextstep version to work. https://winworldpc.com/download/7c521434-e280-a0e2-82ac-11c3...
Which will require a NeXT machine emulator https://previous.nextcommunity.net/
Wish me luck.
> Teapot is pretty great, it's too bad there is close to zero room for real innovation in the spreadsheet domain.
One issue is that this is hard to do while still retaining backwards compatibility. Lotus Improv basically gave you no other choice, something that Excel The Next Version can't do. And I doubt that we're getting a third MS app, no Multiplan -> Excel -> NewSpreadsheetThingProbablyCalledCopilotAnyway.
I know a lot of people that don't even use Excel's tables, introduced almost 20 years ago. But instead they painstakingly recreate most of its built-in features. It's just an easy shortcut away, and has plenty of GUI support hidden in the ribbon morass, but it's not the default state…
The easy way to accomplish this is to just launch a NeXTstep box in your browser from https://infinitemac.org/
I don’t know if they have Improv pre-installed, but it will let you mount disk images from your computer.
(Personally I find the easy way too easy, so I have NeXT^WOpenSTEP installed on bare metal on a 5x86 box. But that’s me)
pretty cool, most of the time I don't want to spin emacs org-table nor google sheets for a quick table
Yeah, yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should.