Dan Bricklin: Meet the inventor of the electronic spreadsheet
丹 · 布里克林: 認識電子表格的發明者
Dan Bricklin helped fuel the rapid growth of the personal computer industry. Full bio
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an electronic spreadsheet,
with a spreadsheet by hand,
用的是手寫的試算表,
printing business in Philadelphia?
小型印刷生意那樣呢?
for hundreds of years.
I started working on an idea
called an Apple II personal computer.
had really changed when, six years later,
and maybe even were using it.
甚至還用過它。
propelled the industry forward."
推動計算機工業前進。」
more than any other single event."
更推動了蘋果的成功。」
for some other computer,
當初是寫給其他的電腦用的,
somebody else right now."
personal computers on business desks.
起了重要的作用。
to make it be what it was?
使它成為這個模樣呢?
back in 1966, when I was 15 --
首次學寫程式,
after this photo was taken.
to computers in those days.
and an awful lot of perseverance,
computer time around the city.
I went off to MIT to go to college,
我去麻省理工學院(MIT)上課,
I worked on the Multics Project.
interactive time-sharing system.
交互式分時系統。
and Unix operating systems?
as interpreted computer languages,
in noncomputer fields
while seated at a computer terminal.
Digital Equipment Corporation.
of computerized typesetting.
replace their reporters' typewriters
to places like the Kansas City Star,
堪薩斯城市之星之類的地方,
and get feedback.
並汲取他們的使用反饋。
than what I saw in the lab at MIT.
首件文字處理軟體專案,
word processor, again a new field.
was crafting a user interface
for noncomputer people to use.
用起來自然而且有效率。
to work for a small company
我去一家小公司工作。
cash registers for the fast-food industry.
以微處理器為基底的電子收銀機。
a company with my friend Bob Frankston
一起創辦一家公司,
Multics 專案認識的。
as much as I could about business.
盡我所能學習更多的商業知識。
at Harvard Business School.
percentage of students
背景學生之一。
in computer programming.
sitting in the front row.
we learned by the case method.
describing particular business situations.
特定的商業情況描述,
and exhibits often have words and numbers
裡頭往往有文字和數字,
for the particular situation.
有意義的方式寫出來。
laid out in ways that made sense.
以一種有意義的方式排列。
we got really close to our calculators.
dressed up as a calculator.
the professor would call on somebody
they would explain what was going on
that the professor would transcribe
in the front of the class,
is when you've done all your homework,
是當你完成了所有的作業,
only to find out that you made an error
卻發現你抄錯一個數字,
you did were wrong.
算出來的數字全都錯了,
in the class, I got to daydream a lot.
我經常在做白日夢。
worked on mainframes,
致力於為大型計算機
payroll systems and bill-paying systems.
和賬單支付系統。
on interactive word processing
about paper printouts and punch cards,
印表機印出的紙張或打孔卡,
and wrote a new thing in,
寫一個新的進去,
would automatically change,
had mouse hardware on the bottom of it
like in a fighter plane.
and circle it, and press the sum button.
圈起來,再按總和按鍵。
I'd be able to get the answer.
and turn it into reality.
the placement on the page
that he was printing.
to get feedback from customers
off to the presses.
version of what you're trying to build
做個簡單可用的版本,
to those problems much less expensively.
Harvard's time-sharing system
分時系統的螢幕終端機,
that I ran into was:
then type in some somewhere else,
在其他地方再輸入一些字,
point where you want the answer.
點擊你想要顯示答案的地方。
point to the second,
指向第二個,
What should I put in the formula?
the computer knew what to put in.
where on the screen it referred to.
the programmer way of doing it.
to type in a unique name.
獨一無二的名字。
that was going to be too tedious.
make up the name and put it inside.
編個名字和輸入它。
the order in which you create them?
你創建它們的順序呢?
that if you had more than a few values
on the screen where things were.
能夠被輸入在任何地方,
allowing you to put values anywhere,
the row and column in as a name.
across the top and numbers along the side,
where it was on the screen.
in yourself, you'd know what to do.
就會知道該怎麽做。
helped solve my problem.
like the ability to have ranges of cells.
範圍內的多個單元。
any formula, in any cell.
輸入任何值、任何公式。
almost 40 years later.
差不多四十年過去了。
going to build this product together.
決定一起建造這個產品。
how the program was supposed to behave.
弄清楚程式應該怎麼做。
to act as documentation.
that the user interface I was defining
and clearly to regular people.
he rented in Arlington, Massachusetts.
阿靈頓的公寓閣樓裡工作。
系統的上機時間。
on a terminal like this.
to a borrowed Apple II
到借來的蘋果 II 上,
using an acoustic coupler,
for this case about the Pepsi Challenge.
so I had to copy everything down.
所以我不得不抄寫所有內容;
so every time it crashed,
一次又一次輸入所有的公式。
again, over and over again.
I got called on, and I presented the case.
被叫起來介紹案例。
涵蓋各式各樣的場景。
I did all sorts of different scenarios.
VisiCalc was already useful.
about our secret program.
and subtracted that."
why didn't you use a ratio?"
that wouldn't have been as exact!"
"Divide isn't working yet."
we did finish enough of VisiCalc
announced VisiCalc to the world,
向世界宣布 VisiCal,
Computer Conference in New York City.
全國計算機會議裡的一個小攤位。
a humorous article about the conference.
關於這次會議的幽默文章:
what seem religious rites ...
are adding to the pantheon,
in giant black on yellow.
標明 VisiCalc。
"All hail VISICALC."
「所有人向 VisiCalc 致敬!」
of the electronic spreadsheet
for about two years.
寄出 VisiCalc,
that looked like this.
running on the Apple II.
more to this story,
to commemorate what happened there.
來紀念那裡發生的事。
your unique backgrounds, skills and needs
獨一無二的經歷、技能和需求,
and work out the key problems,
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Dan Bricklin - Software pioneerDan Bricklin helped fuel the rapid growth of the personal computer industry.
Why you should listen
Dan Bricklin is best known for codeveloping VisiCalc, the pioneering electronic spreadsheet, while he was a student at the Harvard Business School. VisiCalc, codeveloped with his friend Bob Frankston whom he met at MIT, is widely credited for fueling the rapid growth of the personal computer industry.
Bricklin helps create products that make it easier for business people to build mobile applications in his current role as CTO of Alpha Software Corporation. He is also president of Software Garden, Inc., a small consulting firm and developer of software applications that he founded in 1985. Its most popular products are Note Taker HD for the Apple iPad and before that Dan Bricklin's Demo Program for IBM PCs. In the past, Bricklin was cofounder of pen computer application developer Slate Corporation and founder of website builder developer Trellix Corporation.
Dan Bricklin | Speaker | TED.com