SuperCalc was a
spreadsheetA spreadsheet is a computer application that simulates a paper accounting worksheet. It displays multiple cells usually in a two-dimensional matrix or grid consisting of rows and columns. Each cell contains alphanumeric text, numeric values or formulas...
application published by
SorcimSorcim was an early start-up company in Silicon Valley, founded in June 1980 by Richard Frank, Paul McQuesten, Martin Herbach, Anil Lakhwara , and Steve Jasik - all former Control Data Corporation employees working in the Language Group in Sunnyvale, CA...
in 1980, and originally bundled (along with
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) as part of the
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software package included with the
Osborne 1The Osborne 1 was the first commercially successful portable microcomputer, released on April 3, 1981 by Osborne Computer Corporation. It weighed 10.7 kg , cost USD$ 1795, and ran the then-popular CP/M 2.2 operating system...
portable computerA portable computer is a computer that is designed to be moved from one place to another and includes a display and keyboard. Portable computers, by their nature, are generally microcomputers. Portable computers, because of their size, are also commonly known as 'Lunchbox' or 'Luggable' computers...
.
An improvement over
VisiCalcVisiCalc was the first spreadsheet program available for personal computers. It is often considered the application that turned the microcomputer from a hobby for computer enthusiasts into a serious business tool...
, SuperCalc was notable for being one of the first spreadsheet programs capable of iteratively solving
circular referenceA circular reference is a series of references where the last object references the first, resulting in a closed loop.-In language:A circular reference is not to be confused with the logical fallacy of a circular argument...
s (cells that depend on each other's results). It would be over 10 years after the introduction of SuperCalc before this feature was implemented in
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, although in
Lotus 1-2-3Lotus 1-2-3 is a spreadsheet program from Lotus Software . It was the IBM PC's first "killer application"; its huge popularity in the mid-1980s contributed significantly to the success of the IBM PC in the corporate environment.-Beginnings:...
, manual programming of iterative logic could also be used to solve this issue. According to the SuperCalc product manager, iterative calculations were added when Sorcim changed from BCD to Binary math. Since the precision of the two math packages was different, some IF statements resolved differently, and iterative calculations helped solve this problem.
Versions of SuperCalc were later released for the Apple II family, for PCs running
DOSMS-DOS is an operating system for x86-based personal computers. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems, and was the main operating system for IBM PC compatible personal computers during the 1980s to the mid 1990s, until it was gradually superseded by operating...
, and, after Sorcim was bought by Computer Associates (CA) in the mid-1980s, for
MS WindowsMicrosoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
(under the name
CA-SuperCalc).