BIBILIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCE SOURCES:

SECTION: Spreadsheets:

Many of the Terms listed are extracted from the following sources. But they have been modified and rearranged, trimmed and enhanced. And where necessary corrected, to reflect reality. Purists should refer to the originals.

"The Lotus Guide to 1-2-3 Release 3"
 David J Bookbinder
ISBN 0-201-15038-7
Addison-Wesley
June 1989

"QUATTRO: The Complete Reference"
Yvonne McCoy
Borland-osborne/McGraw Hill
ISBN 0-07-881337-9
Web Documents:

Lotus and the Year 2000: A Perspective

URL: http://www.lotus.com/UK/220e.htm

Frank Triggs Pumpkin Award winning Summaries: (in TOPICs 4a and 4b)

URL: http://www/cinderella.co.za


DEFINITION OF TERMS

"Lotus date number"

A date number is 1-2-3's internal method of keeping track of dates. 1-2-3 starts its calendar at January 1,1900. It assigns the number 1 to that date, 2 to January 2,1900 and so on. January 1, 1989 is date number 32509 in the 1-2-3 calendar. The last date in the calendar is December 31, 2099 (date number 73050)"

"Dates for the Years 2000 to 2099"

1-2-3 assigns a value to a date that represents the number of days from the beginning of this century to that date. Dates can be entered directly, or you can enter them with the @DATE or @DATEVALUE functions. For example, the entry 4-Feb-01, @DATEVALUE("04-Feb-01"), or @DATE(1,2,4) stands for February 4, 1901. 1-2-3 assigns the date the value 401, which stands for 401 days from January 1, 1900. (The value 401 appears in the cell unless you format the cell to display its contents as a date or give the cell Automatic format before you enter the date.)

1-2-3 can display dates for any year from 1900 to 2099. For years after 1999, you either type in all four digits of the year (if you are entering the date directly into a cell or into an @DATEVALUE function) or you add 100 to the last two digits of the year (if you are using the @DATE function). For example, to enter the date October 31, 2042 you can type @DATE(14,10,31), 31-Oct-2042 or @DATEVALUE("31-Oct-2042").

Years from 2000 to 2099 are displayed as four digits when the cell is formatted to display dates, so be sure the cell is wide enough to accomodate the longer entry."

"Finding the Month, Day, Year and Day of the Week from a Date"

To determine the number of days between any two dates, subtract the earlier date from the later date. For example, if cell A1 contains the date number for 25-Dec-90 and cell A2 contains the date number for 04-Jul-90, the formula +A1-A2 tells you how many days there are between July 4, 1990 and December 25, 1990.

You can also use @functions to find out information about a date.

@DAY tells you the day of the month for any given date: 1 for the first day of the month, 2 for the second, and so on.

@YEAR calculates the number of the year (from 0 for 1900 to 199 (for 2099).

@MONTH function tells you what month a given date falls in. It takes as an argument a date number and evaluates to a number correspondeing to the month: 1 for January, 2 for February, 3 for March and so on.

@NOW evaluates to the date and time number for the current date and time

@TODAY evalutes to the current date. An equivalent form of @TODAY is @INT(@NOW)

There is no @function that directly gives you the day of the week from a date, but the @MOD function will do the trick. The formula @MOD(,7) evaluates to 0 if the date is Saturday, 1 if the date is Sunday, 2 if the date is Monday, and so on. () is any date number). If you combine the @MOD function with an @IF or an @CHOOSE function, you can directly display the day of the week for any date between January 1, 1900 and December 31, 2099.

In all the examples just mentioned, the date number can come from a date you type in, a formula that evaluates to a date number (including @DATE, @DATEVALUE, @NOW and @TODAY) or a reference to a cell containing a date number.

You can combine these @functions to find out anything you like about any date from January 1, 1900 to December 31,2099. For example you could use the @MOD function in conjunction with the @DATE and @INT functions to calculate the number of paydays in each month, for any payday (Friday, Saturday, and so on), for any given year."

"Time Format"

"Like dates, 1-2-3 stores time values as numbers. Time numbers range in value from 0 to 0.999988425925925926, where 0 stands for midnight, .5 stands for noon, and 0.999988425925925926 is 11:59:59 PM. The time formats, available through Range Format Date Time submenu, control the display of time numbers as times. The following list illustrates the four time formats and shows how each of them displays the time value .77479.

1   HH:MM:SS AM/PM  06:35:15 PM
2   HH:MM AM/PM     06:35 PM
3   HH:MM:SS (Long International) 18:35:15
4   HH:MM (Short International)  18:35
As with date values you can enter time values as the Start value for a Data Fill command and increment or decrement the value by hours, minutes, or seconds. For example, to create the time values for 9:00 AM to 5: PM, you would select a fill range of nine cells and then enter the following keystrokes:

Select : / Data Fill
Type:    9:00am     (the start value)
Press: Return
Type: 1h    (the step value)
Press: Return
Type: 5:01pm   (the stop value)
Press: Return
(Because of slight imprecision that sometimes results when 1-2-3 translates numbers form its internal format, it is a good idea to specify a stp value that is larger than the last value in the fill range.)

If you format the range that contains the time numbers as Automatic or as one of the four time formats, 1-2-3 will display time values in the filled cells.

You can enter time values directly into the worksheet or you can use the @TIME and @TIMEVALUE functions to create time numbers. Once you have created the numbers, you can manipulate them with arithmetic operators (for example you can determine the number of hours worked in a day by subtracting the value in a cell conaining the start time from the value of a cell containing the end time). Using the @HOUR, @MINUTE and @SECOND fundtions you can find out the hour, minute and second parts of a time value."


Extracts from: Lotus and the Year 2000: A Perspective URL: http://www.lotus.com/UK/220e.htm


The following information has been reproduced from
Lotus Knowledgebase, a Notes-based repository of
technical documents relating to all Lotus products.
Knowledgebase is available as a quarterly subscription
service to users of Lotus Notes through Lotus Business
Partners.


Will the Year 2000 Affect Dates or Any Other Aspect of
123?

The following releases of 123 are currently shipping:

123 Release 4 for DOS (a multiple-sheet DOS
spreadsheet).

123 Release 5 for Windows (the latest Windows-based
spreadsheet).

These versions of 123 will run properly on computers
with system dates beyond the year 2000.  Furthermore,
in these releases, date calculations will work with
both two-digit years (for the years between 1900 and
1999) and four-years (for the year 2000 and beyond).

How to Enter a Date for the Year 2000 or Beyond in 123:

The following examples use the date April 20, 2034.

In Release 4 for DOS and Release 5 for Windows, type
the date in the following format:

4/20/2034

In Release 2.4 for DOS, type the date in the following
format:

@date(134,4,20)

When the number format is set to date, dd-mmm-yyyy, the
date above displays as 20-Apr-2034.

How to Enter Dates for the 21st Century in 123W 5.0

Customers can enter dates for the 21st Century in 123W
5.0 by specifying a 4 digit year.  For example, to
enter the date for January 1, 2001, the customer would
type the following in a cell:

1/1/2001

When the customer presses Enter, the 123W 5.0 displays
the date in the default date format:

01/01/2001

If a customer enters a date for the 20th Century using
a 4 digit year, 123W 5.0 automatically truncates the
year to 2 digits.  For example, if a customer types the
following date in a cell:

1/1/1999

123W 5.0 automatically converts the date to display in
the following format:

01/01/99

CHANGING THE 123 DATE FORMAT:

To choose another date format for the cell (or a range
of cells), select Style, Number Format and select one
of the other Date options (such as 01-Jan-2000 or
Jan-2000) and click OK.

To define a particular date format as the worksheet
default (for number format), take the steps listed
below:

a. Select Style, Worksheet Defaults.

b. Click the down-arrow for Format and choose Dates.

c. Select the desired Date format.

d. Click OK.

For more information on number and date formats,
reference the 123W 5.0 on-line Help.


123W 5.0 is the first version of 123 for Windows that
recognizes dates for the 21st Century. 123 for DOS 4.0
is the first version of 123 for DOS that recognizes
dates for the 21st Century.

(Editors note: I find the above statement totally false)


Y2K: Cinderella: Fred Triggs' first article - Topic 4a


Note: Here is a extract of Freds 'Pumpkin' Award
winning article.Only Spreadsheet items are included

Slight changes to format have been made to accomodate
mailers, the text is unchanged.

Fred Trigg wrote:

As a brief introduction to myself, I run the support
team for Foster Wheeler UK in Reading.  We have some
1500 pcs and run a vast range of software ranging from
very old, such as Lotus 123 v2.3 to the very new.  We
are in the process of evaluation this software to
ensure Y2K complience.  As part of our support we
provide a Windows help file containing all sorts of
information including our findings so far on the Y2K
issue.  I have included the text version of the
evaluation so far and hope it will be of some use.

Please excuse the format as it was converted from a RTF
file.

Although we do not evaluate the implications of
converting any existing data or processes, we do ensure
that each product can deal with the potential problems
and that if so recommendations are given on how to use
them whilst maintaining Y2K awareness.

If this is of any use please let me know and I'll
continue to post new evaluations (We have a huge amount
to go!).

Regards,
Fred Trigg
Senior Systems Analyst
Foster Wheeler Engery Limited
fredtrigg@patrol.i-way.co.uk
fred_trigg@fwc.com

Lotus 123

Lotus 123 is very widely used within the company and
there are a number of versions of this spreadsheet
available for use.  To find out which version you are
currently using, please refer to the Foster Wheeler
applications menu or the DOS menu from where you opened
your application.  More information can then be
obtained about your particular versions year 2000'
capabilities by double clicking on the appropriate icon
below.

If your version of Lotus 123 is not listed below, then
don't panic!  It doesn't necessarily mean that your
version can not handle year 2000 dates, it just means
that it hasn't been tested yet and so some caution must
be taken.


Lotus 123 Version 5

This version allows for dates to be input with a four
digit year and therefore it can cope well with 21st
century dates.  Date calculations can also be carried
out which span the century switch over.  If system
dates are brought in via functions such as 'now' and
'today' then these will automatically be displayed with
a two digit year if it is before the year 2000 or with
a four digit year if it is afterwards.  All other dates
entered into the spreadsheet will also be shown as
either two or four digit years, depending on how they
are entered by the user.  After the year 2000, you are
therefore advised to always enter a four digit year.

This version is also capable of recognising leap years,
in particular the year 2000 leap year and can cope with
dates up to and including December 31st 2099.

Lotus 123 Version 4

This version although not the latest release of this
package is still capable of dealing with 21st century
dates.  Version 4 can carry out date calculations which
span over the two centuries.  If system dates are
brought in via functions such as 'now' and 'today' then
these will automatically be displayed with a two digit
year if it is before the year 2000 or with a four digit
year if it is afterwards.  All other dates entered into
the spreadsheet will also be shown as either two or
four digit years, depending on how they are entered by
the user.  After the year 2000, you are therefore
advised to always enter a four digit year.  This
version is also capable of recognising leap years, in
particular the year 2000 leap year and can cope with
dates up to and including December 31st 2099.

Lotus 123 Version 3.4

This version although a rather early one is capable of
recognising year 2000 dates.  However the cell which is
to hold the date must first be formatted to' long
international', this can be done by selecting
'range\format\date\long international' from the main
menu within Lotus 123.

The dates can then be manipulated as any other date
would be and calculations can be made which span over
the centuries.  If system dates are brought in via
functions such as 'now' and 'today', then these will
automatically be displayed with a two digit year if it
is before the year 2000, or with a four digit year if
it is afterwards.

All other dates entered into the spreadsheet will also
be shown as either two or four digit years, depending
on how they are entered by the user.  After the year
2000, you are therefore advised to always enter a four
digit year.  This version can also recognise leap
years, in particular the year 2000 leap year and can
cope with dates up to and including December 31st 2099.

Lotus 123 Version 2.3

This version, although one of the earlier versions of
Lotus 123 can manage year 2000 dates as long as they
are put into 'long international' formatted cells.

This can be done by selecting 'range\format\date\long
international' from the main menu within Lotus 123.

The dates can then be manipulated as any other date
would be and calculations can be made which span over
the centuries.  If system dates are bought in via
functions such as 'now' and 'today', then these will
automatically be displayed with a two digit year if it
is before the year 2000, or with a four digit year if
it is afterwards.

All other dates entered into the spreadsheet will also
be shown as either two or four digit years, depending
on how they are entered by the user.  After the year
2000, you are therefore advised to always enter a four
digit year.  This version can also recognise leap
years, in particular the year 2000 leap year and can
cope with dates up to and including December 31st 2099.




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