An Introduction to Logical Spreadsheets

A logical spreadsheet is a spreadsheet in which the formula language is composed of logical expressions. Logical spreadsheets were invented shortly after traditional electronic spreadsheets were introduced, but since then logical spreadsheet research has been somewhat sparse. Recently, however, there has been resurgence in the interest of logical spreadsheets in the research community. In this paper, the authors summarize logical spreadsheet research up to this point. The world's first electronic spreadsheet, VisiCalc, was created by Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston in 1979. The spreadsheet was widely regarded as the 'Killer app' for personal computers. It managed to hit a sweet spot between usability and functionality—millions of users with no formal training in programming were suddenly enabled to create custom applications of their own.