Title :
Dimension inference in spreadsheets
Author :
Chambers, Chris ; Erwig, Martin
Author_Institution :
Oregon State Univ., Eugene, OH
Abstract :
We present a reasoning system for inferring dimension information in spreadsheets. This system can be used to check the consistency of spreadsheet formulas and can be employed to detect errors in spreadsheets. We have prototypically implemented the system as an add-in to Excel. In an evaluation of this implementation we were able to detect dimension errors in almost 50% of the investigated spreadsheets, which shows (i) that the system works reliably in practice and (ii) that dimension information can be well exploited to uncover errors in spreadsheets.
Keywords :
inference mechanisms; spreadsheet programs; Excel; dimension information inference; reasoning system; spreadsheet formulas; Automatic testing; Automation; Computer languages; Concrete; Feedback; Measurement units; Prototypes; Software testing; System testing; Usability;
Conference_Titel :
Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing, 2008. VL/HCC 2008. IEEE Symposium on
Conference_Location :
Herrsching am Ammersee
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-2528-0
Electronic_ISBN :
1943-6092
DOI :
10.1109/VLHCC.2008.4639072