1.2.2 How does Calc compare to Excel?

This is a natural and very real question.

For the most part, Calc will do exactly what Excel does, including keyboard shortcuts and some of the toolbar icons. This is especially the case for this class. When you get much more advanced, you may find features that are missing from Calc. One such feature is the use of Visual Basic in Excel. Calc uses Java as its internal scripting language.

Some features are placed differently in Calc. For example, to set the layout of a page (for printing purposes), you access the File menu, then ``Page Setup'' in Excel. In Calc, on the other hand, you access the Format menu, then select ``Page ...''. Personally, I find the Calc organization more sensible. To veteran Excel users, however, this difference can be a little bit annoying.

It is a little early, but there is another important difference. When you enter a formula, or whenever you need specify a list of cells, Excel uses the comma , symbol. On the other hand, Calc uses the semi-colon ; symbol for this purpose. This is a minor difference, but enough to send experienced users scratching their heads.

There is, however, one feature that is definitely on the plus side of Calc. All OpenOffice applications can export to PDF natively. This means you don't have to purchase Acrobat to generate PDF documents in Calc.

If you run into any trouble using Calc instead of Excel, please send me a message.