Meet the inventor of the electronic spreadsheet | Dan Bricklin

Translator: Crawford Hunt Reviewer: Brian Greene

譯者: Lu Sun 審譯者: Helen Chang

How many of you have used an electronic spreadsheet,

你們當中有多少人用過試算表，

like Microsoft Excel?

例如微軟的 Excel？

Very good.

非常好。

Now, how many of you have run a business with a spreadsheet by hand,

你們當中有多少人經營生意 用的是手寫的試算表，

like my dad did for his small printing business in Philadelphia?

像我父親在費城的 小型印刷生意那樣呢？

A lot less.

少了很多。

Well, that's the way it was done for hundreds of years.

那是幾百年來的做法。

In early 1978, I started working on an idea

我在 1978 年初開始落實的想法

that eventually became VisiCalc.

最終變成了 VisiCalc。

And the next year it shipped

次年，它被裝在名為蘋果 II 的

running on something new called an Apple II personal computer.

新個人電腦上運作。

You could tell that things had really changed when, six years later,

真正的變化能被明顯地看到

是六年後華爾街日報發表的社論。

the Wall Street Journal ran an editorial

that assumed you knew what VisiCalc was and maybe even were using it.

假設你知道什麼是 VisiCalc 甚至還用過它。

Steve Jobs back in 1990

賈伯斯在 1990 年重回蘋果電腦，

said that "spreadsheets propelled the industry forward."

宣稱：「試算表 推動計算機工業前進。」

"VisiCalc propelled the success of Apple more than any other single event."

「VisiCalc 比其他的 更推動了蘋果的成功。」

On a more personal note,

在一個更為私人的筆記裡，

Steve said, "If VisiCalc had been written for some other computer,

賈伯斯說：「如果 VisiCalc 當初是寫給其他的電腦用的，

you'd be interviewing somebody else right now."

那你現在採訪的就是別人了。」

So, VisiCalc was instrumental in getting personal computers on business desks.

因此 VisiCalc 在商用個人電腦上 起了重要的作用。

How did it come about?

它是怎麼來的呢？

What was it? What did I go through to make it be what it was?

它是什麼？我做了什麼 使它成為這個模樣呢？

Well, I first learned to program back in 1966, when I was 15 --

我在 1966 年 15 歲時 首次學寫程式，

just a couple months after this photo was taken.

就在拍這張照片的幾個月後。

Few high schoolers had access to computers in those days.

很少有高中生在當時接觸到電腦。

But through luck and an awful lot of perseverance,

但由於運氣和堅持不懈，

I was able to get computer time around the city.

我在市裡得到了使用電腦的時間。

After sleeping in the mud at Woodstock, I went off to MIT to go to college,

睡在胡士托音樂節的泥裡後， 我去麻省理工學院（MIT）上課，

where to make money, I worked on the Multics Project.

為 Multics 專案工作賺些錢。

Multics was a trailblazing interactive time-sharing system.

Multics 是個開創性的 交互式分時系統。

Have you heard of the Linux and Unix operating systems?

你聽過 Linux 和 Unix 操作系統嗎？

They came from Multics.

它們來自 Multics。

I worked on the Multics versions

我曾做過 Multics 版本的

of what are known as interpreted computer languages,

計算機編譯語言，

that are used by people in noncomputer fields

被非計算機領域的人

to do their calculations while seated at a computer terminal.

用在電腦終端機前進行計算。

After I graduated from MIT,

我從 MIT 畢業之後

I went to work for Digital Equipment Corporation.

去迪吉多公司工作。

At DEC, I worked on software

我在迪吉多負責開發軟體，

for the new area of computerized typesetting.

用於電腦排版的新領域。

I helped newspapers replace their reporters' typewriters

我幫新聞報紙的記者

用電腦取代打字機。

with computer terminals.

I'd write software

我寫軟體，

and then I'd go out in the field to places like the Kansas City Star,

然後去實地，像去 堪薩斯城市之星之類的地方，

where I would train users and get feedback.

我在那裡培訓使用者 並汲取他們的使用反饋。

This was real-world experience

那是真實世界的經驗，

that is quite different than what I saw in the lab at MIT.

跟我在 MIT 實驗室裡的完全不同。

After that, I was project leader

在那之後，我領導迪吉多的 首件文字處理軟體專案，

of the software for DEC's first word processor, again a new field.

又是一個新的領域。

Like with typesetting, the important thing was crafting a user interface

像排版一樣，重要的是製作用戶界面

that was both natural and efficient for noncomputer people to use.

讓非計算機領域的人 用起來自然而且有效率。

After I was at DEC, I went to work for a small company

在迪吉多之後 我去一家小公司工作。

that made microprocessor-based electronic cash registers for the fast-food industry.

他們為快餐業製作 以微處理器為基底的電子收銀機。

But I had always wanted to start a company with my friend Bob Frankston

但我一直想同朋友 Bob Frankston 一起創辦一家公司，

that I met on the Multics project at MIT.

我們是在 MIT 的 Multics 專案認識的。

So I decided to go back to school to learn as much as I could about business.

所以，我決定回到學校 盡我所能學習更多的商業知識。

And in the fall of 1977,

在 1977 年的秋天，

I entered the MBA program at Harvard Business School.

我進了哈佛商學院的 MBA 課程。

I was one of the few percentage of students

我是少數有寫計算機程式 背景學生之一。

who had a background in computer programming.

There's a picture of me from the yearbook sitting in the front row.

這張年鑑裡的照片的我坐在前排。

（笑聲）

(Laughter)

Now, at Harvard, we learned by the case method.

在哈佛，我們透過案例來學習，

We'd do about three cases a day.

一天大約做三個案例。

Cases consist of up to a few dozen pages describing particular business situations.

案例包括多達幾十頁 特定的商業情況描述，

They often have exhibits, and exhibits often have words and numbers

還經常陳列證物， 裡頭往往有文字和數字，

laid out in ways that make sense for the particular situation.

以一種對特定情況 有意義的方式寫出來。

They're usually all somewhat different.

通常它們彼此間有些不同。

Here's my homework.

這是我的家庭作業。

Again, numbers, words, laid out in ways that made sense.

再一次，數字、文字， 以一種有意義的方式排列。

Lots of calculations -- we got really close to our calculators.

大量的計算──

我們真的離不開計算器。

In fact, here's my calculator.

這其實是我的計算器。

For Halloween, I went dressed up as a calculator.

萬聖節時，我打扮成一個計算器。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

At the beginning of each class, the professor would call on somebody

在每一節課的開始，

教授會叫個學生介紹案例，

to present the case.

What they would do is they would explain what was going on

學生需要解釋是怎麼一回事，

and then dictate information that the professor would transcribe

然後聽抄教授口述和寫在

onto the many motorized blackboards in the front of the class,

教室前電動黑板上的那些數據，

and then we'd have a discussion.

然後我們開始討論。

One of the really frustrating things is when you've done all your homework,

最讓人挫折的事之一 是當你完成了所有的作業，

you come in the next day only to find out that you made an error

第二天來到學校 卻發現你抄錯一個數字，

and all of the other numbers you did were wrong.

使得所有其他 算出來的數字全都錯了，

And you couldn't participate as well.

你就無法參與討論。

And we were marked by class participation.

而參與課堂的討論是要算分的。

So, sitting there with 87 other people in the class, I got to daydream a lot.

因此，和其他 87 人坐在教室裡時 我經常在做白日夢。

Most programmers in those days worked on mainframes,

當時大部分寫程式的人 致力於為大型計算機

building things like inventory systems, payroll systems and bill-paying systems.

建立庫存系統、薪資系統 和賬單支付系統。

But I had worked on interactive word processing

而我從事於互動文字處理

and on-demand personal computation.

和按個人需求的計算。

Instead of thinking about paper printouts and punch cards,

我思考的不是 印表機印出的紙張或打孔卡，

I imagined a magic blackboard

而是在想像一個神奇的黑板，

that if you erased one number and wrote a new thing in,

在黑板上你擦去一個數字， 寫一個新的進去，

all of the other numbers would automatically change,

所有其他的數字都會自動更新，

like word processing with numbers.

就像是數字的處理。

I imagined that my calculator had mouse hardware on the bottom of it

我想像計算器的下方有個滑鼠硬體，

and a head-up display, like in a fighter plane.

和像在戰鬥機裡的平視顯示器。

And I could type some numbers in, and circle it, and press the sum button.

我能輸入一些數字， 圈起來，再按總和按鍵。

And right in the middle of a negotiation I'd be able to get the answer.

在協商討論中，我能立即得到答案。

Now I just had to take my fantasy and turn it into reality.

我只需把想像變成現實。

My father taught me about prototyping.

我的父親教我設計原型。

He showed me mock-ups

他向我展示為了弄清楚

that he'd make to figure out the placement on the page

正在印製的小冊子的最佳配置位置

for the things for brochures that he was printing.

而製作的原型。

And he'd use it to get feedback from customers

他會用它來獲得客戶的反饋和首肯，

and OKs before he sent the job off to the presses.

然後才把它交給印刷廠。

The act of making a simple, working version of what you're trying to build

為你嘗試構建的東西 做個簡單可用的版本，

forces you to uncover key problems.

迫使你發現關鍵的問題，

And it lets you find solutions to those problems much less expensively.

讓你能找到較不昂貴的解決方案。

So I decided to build a prototype.

因此，我決定製造一個原型。

I went to a video terminal connected to Harvard's time-sharing system

我用連接到哈佛的 分時系統的螢幕終端機，

and got to work.

開始寫程式。

One of the first problems that I ran into was:

我最先碰到的問題之一是

How do you represent values in formulas?

如何表示公式中的值？

Let me show you what I mean.

讓我用展示來說明我的意思。

I thought that you would point somewhere,

你大概會指向某處，

type in some words, then type in some somewhere else,

輸入一些字， 在其他地方再輸入一些字，

put in some numbers and some more numbers, point where you want the answer.

輸入一些數字，再一些數字， 點擊你想要顯示答案的地方。

And then point to the first, press minus, point to the second,

接著指向第一個，按「減去」， 指向第二個，

and get the result.

得到答案。

The problem was: What should I put in the formula?

問題來了：我應該把什麼放在公式裡？

It had to be something the computer knew what to put in.

它必須是計算機認得的東西。

And if you looked at the formula,

看著公式時

you needed to know where on the screen it referred to.

你需要知道它在螢幕上出現的位置。

The first thing I thought was the programmer way of doing it.

我首先想到程式師的方法。

The first time you pointed to somewhere,

你第一次指著某處，

the computer would ask you to type in a unique name.

計算機要求你輸入一個 獨一無二的名字。

It became pretty clear pretty fast that that was going to be too tedious.

很快就變得相當清楚，這太繁瑣了。

The computer had to automatically make up the name and put it inside.

計算機應該要自動 編個名字和輸入它。

So I thought, why not make it be the order in which you create them?

所以我想，為什麽不順著 你創建它們的順序呢？

I tried that. Value 1, value 2.

我試了試，值 1，值 2

Pretty quickly I saw that if you had more than a few values

很快我體認到，如果多幾個值，

you'd never remember on the screen where things were.

就絕對記不得螢幕上東西的位置。

然後我想，為什麽不讓值 能夠被輸入在任何地方，

Then I said, why not instead of allowing you to put values anywhere,

I'll restrict you to a grid?

只要限制它被放在網格裡呢？

Then when you pointed to a cell,

當你指向一個單元，

the computer could put the row and column in as a name.

計算機能用行和列作為單元的名稱。

And, if I did it like a map and put ABC across the top and numbers along the side,

如果我把它做成像一張地圖，

ABC 放在頂部，數字放在一側，

if you saw B7 in a formula,

如果你看到一個公式裏的 B7，

you'd know exactly where it was on the screen.

你就知道它在螢幕上的確切位置。

And if you had to type the formula in yourself, you'd know what to do.

如果你需要自己輸入公式， 就會知道該怎麽做。

Restricting you to a grid helped solve my problem.

用網格不但解決了我的問題，

It also opened up new capabilities, like the ability to have ranges of cells.

還開啟新的性能，像是能用 範圍內的多個單元。

But it wasn't too restrictive --

限制不算太緊，

you could still put any value, any formula, in any cell.

你仍可在任意單元格裡 輸入任何值、任何公式。

And that's the way we do it to this day, almost 40 years later.

這就是我們一直用到現在的方法， 差不多四十年過去了。

My friend Bob and I decided that we were going to build this product together.

我的朋友 Bob 和我 決定一起建造這個產品。

I did more work figuring out exactly how the program was supposed to behave.

我做了更多的研究 弄清楚程式應該怎麼做。

I wrote a reference card to act as documentation.

我寫了張參考卡作為文件檔。

It also helped me ensure that the user interface I was defining

它幫我確保所定義的用戶界面

could be explained concisely and clearly to regular people.

普通人能夠清楚明瞭。

Bob worked in the attic of the apartment he rented in Arlington, Massachusetts.

Bob 在他租的麻薩諸塞州 阿靈頓的公寓閣樓裡工作。

This is the inside of the attic.

這是閣樓的裡面。

Bob bought time on the MIT Multics System

Bob 付費取得 MIT Multics 系統的上機時間。

to write computer code on a terminal like this.

在像這樣的終端機上寫電腦程式。

And then he would download test versions to a borrowed Apple II

然後他下載測試版本 到借來的蘋果 II 上，

over a phone line using an acoustic coupler,

通過電話線和聲耦合器測試。

and then we would test.

For one of these tests I prepared for this case about the Pepsi Challenge.

其中一個測試

我準備挑戰百事可樂的案例。

Print wasn't working yet, so I had to copy everything down.

當時還不能列印出來， 所以我不得不抄寫所有內容；

Save wasn't working, so every time it crashed,

還不能存檔，

所以每次當機我就得 一次又一次輸入所有的公式。

I had to type in all of the formulas again, over and over again.

The next day in class, I raised my hand; I got called on, and I presented the case.

第二天在教室裡，我舉手， 被叫起來介紹案例。

我做了五年的規劃， 涵蓋各式各樣的場景。

I did five-year projections. I did all sorts of different scenarios.

I aced the case. VisiCalc was already useful.

那案例我得到高分。

VisiCalc 已被證明有用。

The professor said, "How did you do it?"

教授問：「你怎麼做到的？」

Well, I didn't want to tell him about our secret program.

我不想告訴他我們的秘密程式。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

So I said, "I took this and added this

所以我說：「我用這個加上這個

and multiplied by this and subtracted that."

然後乘以這個再減去這個。」

He said, "Well, why didn't you use a ratio?"

他說：「你為什麼不用比例？」

I said, "Hah! A ratio -- that wouldn't have been as exact!"

我說：「哈！比例不夠準確。」

What I didn't say was, "Divide isn't working yet."

我沒說的是「除法還不能用」。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

Eventually, though, we did finish enough of VisiCalc

最終，我們完成足夠的 VisiCalc

to be able to show it to the public.

可以公眾於世。

My dad printed up a sample reference card

我父親印出一張參考卡樣本，

that we could use as marketing material.

我們用它做為市場營銷的材料。

In June of 1979, our publisher announced VisiCalc to the world,

我們的出版商在 1979 年六月 向世界宣布 VisiCal，

in a small booth at the giant National Computer Conference in New York City.

在紐約市巨型 全國計算機會議裡的一個小攤位。

The New York Times had a humorous article about the conference.

紐約時報有一篇 關於這次會議的幽默文章：

"The machines perform what seem religious rites ...

「機器表演宗教儀式…

Even as the believers gather,

信徒們聚集在一起，

the painters in the Coliseum sign room are adding to the pantheon,

體育館標誌室的畫家正加入萬神殿

carefully lettering 'VISICALC' in giant black on yellow.

認真地用黃底巨型黑字 標明 VisiCalc。

All hail VISICALC!"

所有人向 VisiCalc 致敬！」

(Gasp) New York Times: "All hail VISICALC."

（倒抽一口氣）紐約時報寫： 「所有人向 VisiCalc 致敬！」

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

That was the last mention of the electronic spreadsheet

那是大約兩年來流行商業媒體

in the popular business press for about two years.

最後一次提到電子表格。

Most people didn't get it yet.

大部分的人還沒有用過，

But some did.

但有些人用過。

In October of 1979, we shipped VisiCalc.

我們在 1979 年十月 寄出 VisiCalc，

It came in packaging that looked like this.

包裝是這樣，

And it looked like this running on the Apple II.

在蘋果 II 中運行是這樣。

And the rest, as they say, is history.

如他們所說，其餘的是歷史。

Now, there's an awful lot more to this story,

時至今日有更多關於它的故事，

but that'll have to wait for another day.

且聽下回分解。

One thing, though, Harvard remembers.

哈佛記得這件事。

Here's that classroom.

這是那間教室。

They put up a plaque to commemorate what happened there.

他們張貼了一份牌匾 來紀念那裡發生的事。

(Applause)

（掌聲）

但它也是個提醒，

But it also serves as a reminder

that you, too, should take your unique backgrounds, skills and needs

提醒你也應該帶著你 獨一無二的經歷、技能和需求，

and build prototypes to discover and work out the key problems,

創建原型機，發掘並解決關鍵問題，

and through that, change the world.

透過它來改變世界。

Thank you.

謝謝。

(Applause)

（掌聲）