Toward a Logical/Physical Theory of Speadsheet Modeling

In spite of the increasing sophistication and power of commercial spreadsheetpackages, we still lack a formal theory of spreadsheets and a methodology thataids their construction and maintenance. Using a new functional relationallanguage, this paper identifies four principal components that characterize anyspreadsheet model: Model, Data, Editorial, and Binding. We present a factoringalgorithm for identifying and extracting these components from conventionalspreadsheets automatically, and a synthesis algorithm that assists users in theconstruction of executable spreadsheets from reusable components. This approachopens new possibilities for applying object oriented and model managementtechniques to support the construction, sharing, and reuse, of spreadsheetmodels in organizations