Model-Based Programming Environments for Spreadsheets

• Type: Article in International Conference Proceedings Book
• Date: 2012

Authors

Cunha, J (Author) Other; Saraiva, J (Author) Other; Visser, J (Author) Other

Conference proceedings International

Title: Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)

Pages: 117-133

16th Brazilian Symposium on Programming Languages, SBLP 2012

Natal, 23 September 2012 through 28 September 2012

Indexing

Scopus - 4 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-008-6EX

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-33182-4_10

Abstract (EN): Although spreadsheets can be seen as a flexible programming environment, they lack some of the concepts of regular programming languages, such as structured data types. This can lead the user to edit the spreadsheet in a wrong way and perhaps cause corrupt or redundant data. We devised a method for extraction of a relational model from a spreadsheet and the subsequent embedding of the model back into the spreadsheet to create a model-based spreadsheet programming environment. The extraction algorithm is specific for spreadsheets since it considers particularities such as layout and column arrangement. The extracted model is used to generate formulas and visual elements that are then embedded in the spreadsheet helping the user to edit data in a correct way. We present preliminary experimental results from applying our approach to a sample of spreadsheets from the EUSES Spreadsheet Corpus. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific