Release 2016-08-06 Formula Argument Declaration confusion

J. Craig Williams

The release notes says:

 

Formula Argument Declaration     

Calculations can now run faster with the new logic for identifying a range. Rather than using =if(a1:a3) to specify a range in your formula, your functions will need to identify each cell, =if(a1, a2, a3), separately to be able to run the argument.

 

Using the IF() function does not make sense as a valid argument, since the commas could be taken as argument separators.

 

Can you provide a useful example?

 

Also, the text reads "will need to"

Testing reveals this is likely intended to say something like:

 

Calculations WILL/CAN now run faster with the new logic for identifying a range. Rather than using BETTER EXAMPLE to specify a range in your formula, your functions CAN identify each cell, BETTER EXAMPLE, separately to be able to run the argument WITH FASTER PROCESSING.

 

Thanks

 

Craig

 

 

 

 

 

Preston

Agreed!

Erik Rucker

Fair 'nuf, we'll take another crack at it. 

 

Here's a better example.  Imagine I have a column called "Data" with the string "foo" in the first row and 1 in the 2nd row.  In the old world, I could create a formula =left(Data 1: Data 2) and it would return "f".  Now that would fail and I'd need to specify the formula as =left(Data 1, Data 2) to get it to work.  The old approach was never documented and appears to have been only used a few times, so this issue should be rare in practice. 

 

Thanks,

Erik

J. Craig Williams

I did not realize (or would have expected) functions like LEFT to take a range as the argument. 

Now I understand that it would have allowed a1:a3 as the argument for an IF statement.  Or, I assume it would have accepted a1:c1.

 

Shudder. 

Good riddance.

 

Craig

 

Erik Rucker

That's what we thought too!  This is actually related to why the new calc is so much faster - it now counts on things being well-formed and so can take a precise path to the answer.  The old approach was much more tollerant of oddly formed formulas, but that forced it to take a very indirect path to everywhere.  There's a bit of pain in the transition for some formulas / some sheets.  But afterwards, calculation performance should no longer be a concern for almost everyone (except us - we'll keep our eyes on it).  And we love making it easier for more people to do more things in the app.