What is Excel?
You use Word to
create letters, flyers, books and mail merges. You use PowerPoint to create
visual, audio and text presentations. You use Google to research a topic and
find other information about things you need to know. You use Excel to make Calculations, Analyze Data
and Create Charts. Although
databases (such as Access) are the proper place to store data and create routine
calculating queries, many people around the planet earth use Excel to complete
these tasks. Excel’s row and column format and ready ability to store data and
make calculations make it easy to use when compared to a database program. However,
Excel’s essential beauty is that you can make calculations and analyze/manipulate
data quickly and easily “on the fly!” This easy to use, planet-earth “default”
program must be learned if you want to succeed in today’s working world.
History of Excel
Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet application developed by Microsoft for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and iOS. It features calculation, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a macro programming language called Visual Basic for Applications. It has been a very widely applied spreadsheet for these platforms, especially since version 5 in 1993, and it has replaced Lotus 1-2-3 as the industry standard for spreadsheets. Excel forms part of Microsoft Office.
Basic operation
Microsoft Excel has the basic features of all spreadsheets, using a grid of cells arranged in numbered rows and letter-named columns to organize data manipulations like arithmetic operations. It has a battery of supplied functions to answer statistical, engineering and financial needs. In addition, it can display data as line graphs, histograms and charts, and with a very limited three-dimensional graphical display. It allows sectioning of data to view its dependencies on various factors for different perspectives (using pivot tables and the scenario manager). It has a programming aspect, Visual Basic for Applications, allowing the user to employ a wide variety of numerical methods, for example, for solving differential equations of mathematical physics, and then reporting the results back to the spreadsheet. It also has a variety of interactive features allowing user interfaces that can completely hide the spreadsheet from the user, so the spreadsheet presents itself as a so-called application, or decision support system (DSS), via a custom-designed user interface, for example, a stock analyzer, or in general, as a design tool that asks the user questions and provides answers and reports. In a more elaborate realization, an Excel application can automatically poll external databases and measuring instruments using an update schedule, analyze the results, make a Word report or PowerPoint slide show, and e-mail these presentations on a regular basis to a list of participants.
Microsoft allows for a number of optional command-line switches to control the manner in which Excel starts.
Macro programming
VBA programming
The Windows version of Excel supports programming through Microsoft's Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), which is a dialect of Visual Basic. Programming with VBA allows spreadsheet manipulation that is awkward or impossible with standard spreadsheet techniques. Programmers may write code directly using the Visual Basic Editor (VBE), which includes a window for writing code, debugging code, and code module organization environment. The user can implement numerical methods as well as automating tasks such as formatting or data organization in VBA and guide the calculation using any desired intermediate results reported back to the spreadsheet.
VBA was removed from Mac Excel 2008, as the developers did not believe that a timely release would allow porting the VBA engine natively to Mac OS X. VBA was restored in the next version, Mac Excel 2011.
A common and easy way to generate VBA code is by using the Macro Recorder.The Macro Recorder records actions of the user and generates VBA code in the form of a macro. These actions can then be repeated automatically by running the macro. The macros can also be linked to different trigger types like keyboard shortcuts, a command button or a graphic. The actions in the macro can be executed from these trigger types or from the generic toolbar options. The VBA code of the macro can also be edited in the VBE. Certain features such as loop functions and screen prompts by their own properties, and some graphical display items, cannot be recorded, but must be entered into the VBA module directly by the programmer. Advanced users can employ user prompts to create an interactive program, or react to events such as sheets being loaded or changed.
Users should be aware that using Macro Recorded code may not be compatible from one version of Excel to another. Some code that is used in Excel 2010 can not be used in Excel 2003. Making a Macro that changes the cell colors and making changes to other aspects of cells may not be backward compatible.
VBA code interacts with the spreadsheet through the Excel Object Model, a vocabulary identifying spreadsheet objects, and a set of supplied functions or methods that enable reading and writing to the spreadsheet and interaction with its users (for example, through custom toolbars or command bars and message boxes). User-created VBA execute these actions and operate like macros generated using the macro recorder, but are more flexible and efficient.
History
From its first version Excel supported end user programming of macros (automation of repetitive tasks) and user defined functions (extension of Excel's built-in function library). In early versions of Excel these programs were written in a macro language whose statements had formula syntax and resided in the cells of special purpose macro sheets (stored with file extension .XLM in Windows.) XLM was the default macro language for Excel through Excel 4.0. Beginning with version 5.0 Excel recorded macros in VBA by default but with version 5.0 XLM recording was still allowed as an option. After version 5.0 that option was discontinued. All versions of Excel, including Excel 2010 are capable of running an XLM macro, though Microsoft discourages their use.
Charts
Excel supports charts, graphs, or histograms generated from specified groups of cells. The generated graphic component can either be embedded within the current sheet, or added as a separate object.
These displays are dynamically updated if the content of cells change. For example, suppose that the important design requirements are displayed visually; then, in response to a user's change in trial values for parameters, the curves describing the design change shape, and their points of intersection shift, assisting the selection of the best design.
Number of rows and columns
Versions of Excel up to 7.0 had a limitation in the size of their data sets of 16384 rows. Versions 8.0 through 11.0 could handle 65536 rows and 256 columns . Version 12.0 can handle 1,048,576 rows, and 16,384 columns.
Excel Version History
The table below lists the various versions of Excel for Windows that you may encounter.
Version | Released | Comments |
1 | 1985 | Version 1, for the Macintosh was released. |
2 | 1987 | The first Windows version was labeled "2" to correspond to the Mac version. This included a run-time version of Windows. |
3 | 1990 | Included toolbars, drawing capabilities, outlining, add-in support, 3D charts, and many more new features. |
4 | 1992 | The first "popular" version. Included lots of usability features. |
5 | 1993 | A major upgrade. Included multi-sheet workbooks and support for VBA. |
7* | 1995 | Known as Excel 95. The first major 32-bit version of Excel**. Feature-wise, it's very similar to Excel 5. |
8 | 1997 | Known as Excel 97. A new interface for VBA developers, UserForms, data validation, and lots more. |
9 | 1999 | Known as Excel 2000. Can use HTML as a native file format, "self-repair" capability, enhanced clipboard, pivot charts, modeless user forms. |
10 | 2001 | Known as Excel 2002, this is part of Office XP. It has a long list of new features, but most of them will probably be of little value to the majority of users. Perhaps the most significant feature is the ability to recover your work when Excel crashes.
This version features product activation technology (i.e., copy protection). Please consider the ramifications of this before deciding whether to upgrade.
Read John Walkenbach's Excel 2002 Review at PC World.
|
11 | 2003 | It's called Microsoft Office Excel 2003.
The new features in this version are: (a) improved support for XML, (b) a new "list range" feature, (c) Smart Tag enhancements, and (d) corrected statistical functions. Most users will not find the upgrade worthwhile.
|
12 | 2007 | Finally, some major changes in Excel. For some, the changes may actually be too major. |
14 *** | 2010 | New features include sparkline graphics, pivot table slicers, an updated Solver, and a 64-bit version.. |
15 | 2013 | New features include a single-document interface, charting enhancements, and recommended charts and pivot tables. |
* There is no Excel 6. Beginning with Excel 7, the version numbering was changed so all of the Microsoft Office applications would have the same version number.
** There was also 32-bit version of Excel 5, but it was not widely distributed.
*** There is no Version 13 of Microsoft Office
Format | Extension | Description |
---|---|---|
Excel Workbook | .xlsx | The default Excel 2007 and later workbook format. In reality a ZIP compressed archive with a directory structure of XML text documents. Functions as the primary replacement for the former binary .xls format, although it does not support Excel macros for security reasons. |
Excel Macro-enabled Workbook | .xlsm | As Excel Workbook, but with macro support. |
Excel Binary Workbook | .xlsb | As Excel Macro-enabled Workbook, but storing information in binary form rather than XML documents for opening and saving documents more quickly and efficiently. Intended especially for very large documents with tens of thousands of rows, and/or several hundreds of columns. |
Excel Macro-enabled Template | .xltm | A template document that forms a basis for actual workbooks, with macro support. The replacement for the old .xlt format. |
Excel Add-in | .xlam | Excel add-in to add extra functionality and tools. Inherent macro support because of the file purpose. |
Old file extensions
Format | Extension | Description |
---|---|---|
Spreadsheet | .xls | Main spreadsheet format which holds data in worksheets, charts, and macros |
Add-in (VBA) | .xla | Adds custom functionality; written in VBA |
Toolbar | .xlb | The file extension where Microsoft Excel custom toolbar settings are stored. |
Chart | .xlc | A chart created with data from a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that only saves the chart. To save the chart and spreadsheet save as .XLS. XLC is not supported in Excel 2007 or in any newer versions of Excel. |
Dialog | .xld | Used in older versions of Excel. |
Archive | .xlk | A backup of an Excel Spreadsheet |
Add-in (DLL) | .xll | Adds custom functionality; written in C++/C, Visual Basic, Fortran, etc. and compiled in to a special dynamic-link library |
Macro | .xlm | A macro is created by the user or pre-installed with Excel. |
Template | .xlt | A pre-formatted spreadsheet created by the user or by Microsoft Excel. |
Module | .xlv | A module is written in VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) for Microsoft Excel |
Library | .DLL | Code written in VBA may access functions in a DLL, typically this is used to access the Windows API |
Workspace | .xlw | Arrangement of the windows of multiple Workbooks |
Using other Windows applications
Windows applications such as Microsoft Access and Microsoft Word, as well as Excel can communicate with each other and use each other's capabilities. The most common areDynamic Data Exchange: although strongly deprecated by Microsoft, this is a common method to send data between applications running on Windows, with official MS publications referring to it as "the protocol from hell". As the name suggests, it allows applications to supply data to others for calculation and display. It is very common in financial markets, being used to connect to important financial data services such as Bloomberg and Reuters.
OLE Object Linking and Embedding: allows a Windows application to control another to enable it to format or calculate data. This may take on the form of "embedding" where an application uses another to handle a task that it is more suited to, for example a PowerPoint presentation may be embedded in an Excel spreadsheet or vice versa.
Using external data
Excel users can access external data sources via Microsoft Office features such as (for example)
.odc
connections built with the Office Data Connection file format. Excel files themselves may be updated using a Microsoft supplied ODBC driver.
Excel can accept data in real time through several programming interfaces, which allow it to communicate with many data sources such as Bloomberg and Reuters (through addins such as Power Plus Pro).
- DDE : "Dynamic Data Exchange" uses the message passing mechanism in Windows to allow data to flow between Excel and other applications. Although it is easy for users to create such links, programming such links reliably is so difficult that Microsoft, the creators of the system, officially refer to it as "the protocol from hell". In spite of its many issues DDE remains the most common way for data to reach traders in financial markets.
- Network DDE Extended the protocol to allow spreadsheets on different computers to exchange data. Starting with Windows Vista, Microsoft no longer supports the facility.
- Real Time Data : RTD although in many ways technically superior to DDE, has been slow to gain acceptance, since it requires non-trivial programming skills, and when first released was neither adequately documented nor supported by the major data vendors.
Alternatively, Microsoft Query provides ODBC-based browsing within Microsoft Excel. Culled from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
"There is no application today that does not interface with Excel, at some point to import and the other for export"
With this introduction of Excel, I invite you in to explore the unlimited capabilities of this wonderful application. Join in tomorrow for an excel-lent start as it's going to be an excel-lent week!
Be Excel-lent!
Oladapo Sorinola
BB pin 52E9802D
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