
Works Records System – A multi-user online programmable spreadsheet in 1974 - rbanffy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Works_Records_System
======
alain94040
I would only object to that part of the article, as over-inflated:

 _The 3270 hardware also came equipped, as standard, with the ability to
"physically" update a small section of the remote screen buffer (including its
text colour, background, input behaviour and other attributes) using a "Write"
(modified) command, instead of needing to retransmit the entire screen buffer
on every change (anticipating Ajax software technology that re-emerged some 22
years later for web 2.0 based applications and now utilized for online
spreadsheets and most other recent applications for similar reasons)._

Claiming that the 3270 anticipated Ajax is really, shall I say, "interesting".

I implemented a multi-user chat (similar to Linux talk) on a 3270, so I do
appreciate the addressable location feature.

~~~
eudox
Right. ncurses, too, implements the same kind of lazy redrawing of screen
contents, and probably all graphics systems do this as well. The technique is
fairy old.

~~~
derefr
Forms in the 3270 protocol go a bit beyond lazy redrawing; AJAX _is_ a
(semi-)valid comparison. Effectively, when you "submit" a screen on a 3270,
what you're sending back over the connection (before any optimizations) is the
same block of characters you were originally sent to render the screen—but
with your modifications, appearing exactly in the places you made them. The
"addressable locations" allow for both reading and writing—as in, both sending
updates from the server to the client (ncurses-like), and the client to the
server (AJAX-like "onblur" submission of individual form fields.)

Effectively, the client and server are both keeping a representation of the
same terminal character-bufer (like screen(1) or VNC), but instead of sending
updates whenever either side changes, updates are explicit. And so most 3270
server software uses the "the client synchronized the buffer to the server"
event as the trigger for parsing, validating and persisting the data out of
the buffer.

When put that way, it's more like some kind of... REpresentational State
Transfer, isn't it?

------
davidgerard
This is currently up for deletion, because it has _nearly nothing_ in the way
of good sources.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletio...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Works_Records_System)

If this is significant, then the way to help it along is to dig out Wikipedia-
quality sources for this software. Someone must have something ...

~~~
pascalmemories
[edit: I see a comment attributes creation to Ken Dakin instead of Dr. Robert
Mais. I've made some adjustments as a result.]

Sometimes I cannot fathom the logic of Wikipedia, especially wanting to delete
this article. From my understanding of the discussion, this is because the
entry was made by one of the development team of WRS.

That's the same logic that would have articles created by Albert Einstein
deleted because he was documenting his own work and that alone is sufficient
reason to discard it, regardless of the actual content or how noteworthy it
is/was.

I find the logic perverse as it actively discriminates against potentially
valuable information being documented and detailed by original creators; the
WRS gives good prior art on some uses of spreadsheet concepts (especially
across time dimensions). You don't need to think too much to understand the
value in documenting such a concept, especially by the creator/first
implementor (which in normal mortal circles would be considered a coup).

While the intention is to stop any random person filling wikipedia with their
random nonsense thoughts, it seems quite evident from a quick review of the
article that it has merit on a number of levels.

I wonder what Ken Dakin did to upset the Wiki-Overlords?

~~~
raphman_
While I would identify as Wikipedia inclusionist [1], I find this article
quite problematic. It is (quite) impossible for a reader to verify any of the
claims made in the article. Five years ago, someone (probably Ken Dakin) wrote
this article and no other person on the whole planet earth has apparently been
able or willing to add information or support the claims of the article. For
all that we know, the WRS might just be an elaborate hoax [2] or part of a
plot by someone who hates VisiCalc. (A quick Google search turned up some
further sources that suggest that at least someone calling himself Ken Dakin
actually exists and claims to have worked on WRS [3].)

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deletionism_and_inclusionism_i...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deletionism_and_inclusionism_in_Wikipedia)
[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:List_of_hoaxes_on_Wi...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:List_of_hoaxes_on_Wikipedia)
[3]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXA_kwrkxA0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXA_kwrkxA0)

~~~
digi_owl
I find myself thinking that there could be a middle ground.

Keep the article but slap a border or something on it to indicate that it is
no a proper wikipedia article.

I can't think an article like this takes up much storage capacity on their
servers.

~~~
realityking
The issue is not storage space.

Wikipedia wants to be an encyclopaedia, if you want to publish original
research, put it on your blog.

------
keithpeter
Someone had perhaps set up a place for reminiscences and descriptions of ur-
systems such as this as Wikipedia seem to want to have pages with independent
verification. We don't want ephemera lost as people retire/die and Web sites
suffer bitrot.

It did strike me that the author (one of the developers of the system) was -
perhaps implicitly - claiming quite a lot of influence for his work.

PS: We had a school trip to ICI Runcorn in around 1975 or so. Alas, I don't
remember any dumb terminals (we were in labs and a hall that could cope with
20 schoolboys). We were there to see a demonstration of fluorine chemistry -
which _definitely_ made an impression, as did the practical session on fitting
and testing gas cylinders (we had nitrogen ones to fit, they weren't daft).

