Abstract
Based on the concept of explanation sheets, we present an approach to make spreadsheets easier to understand and thus easier to use and maintain. We identify the notion of explanation soundness and show that explanation sheets which conform to simple rules of formula coverage provide sound explanations. We also present a practical evaluation of explanation sheets based on samples drawn from widely used spreadsheet corpora and based on a small user study.
In addition to supporting spreadsheet understanding and maintenance, our work on explanation sheets has also uncovered several general principles of explanation languages that can help guide the design of explanations for other programming and domain-specific languages.
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Index Terms
Explaining spreadsheets with spreadsheets (short paper)
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Explaining spreadsheets with spreadsheets (short paper)
GPCE 2018: Proceedings of the 17th ACM SIGPLAN International Conference on Generative Programming: Concepts and ExperiencesBased on the concept of explanation sheets, we present an approach to make spreadsheets easier to understand and thus easier to use and maintain. We identify the notion of explanation soundness and show that explanation sheets which conform to simple ...
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Ten discretionary users were asked to recount their experiences with spreadsheets and to explain how one of their own sheets worked. The transcripts of the interviews are summarized to reveal the key strengths and weaknesses of the spreadsheet model. ...







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