Intellisheet: A Spreadsheet System Expanded by Including Constraint Solvers
Yoshihiro Adachi · IEEE Symposia on Human-Centric Computing Languages and Environments · 2001
This paper describes our research into the expansionof the spreadsheet paradigm by the incorporation ofsolvers for systems of linear and finite-domain constraints.An extended spreadsheet system, called Intellisheet,allows the entry of expressions that representlinear and finite-domain constraints, along witharithmetic expressions, in individual cells. The systemsof constraints that have been entered are automaticallysolved by constraint solvers and the resultingsolutions are displayed in the cells that contain theexpressions or in other assigned cells. Intellisheet'sGUI also has some special features to facilitate constraintprogramming. Incorporating constraint solversextends the scope of the spreadsheet paradigm to declarativeprogramming and provides an easier way to solvea broad class of problems, including linear optimizationand discrete problems.