861b142dec
Update both README and Cargo.toml. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
97 lines
3.3 KiB
Markdown
97 lines
3.3 KiB
Markdown
# improvise
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*Terminal pivot-table modeling in the spirit of Lotus Improv — multidimensional cells, formulas over dimensions instead of cell addresses, and vim-style keybindings for reassigning axes on the fly.*
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## Why this exists
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Lotus Improv (NeXT, 1991) separated data from its presentation: cells were
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addressed by named dimensions, not grid coordinates, and rearranging a view
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didn't break formulas. That idea never made it into mainstream tools. Excel
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pivot tables borrowed the visual rearrangement but kept cell-address formulas.
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Terminal data tools like sc-im and VisiData do different things well — sc-im is
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a traditional spreadsheet, VisiData is a data explorer — but neither offers the
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dimension-keyed data model that made Improv interesting. improvise is a small
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attempt to bring that model to a modern terminal, with a formula language that
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references category and item names, views that can be rearranged with a single
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keystroke, and a plain-text file format you can diff in git.
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## Quick start
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```sh
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nix develop
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cargo build --release
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./target/release/improvise examples/demo.improv
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```
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Or import your own CSV:
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```sh
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./target/release/improvise import path/to/data.csv
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```
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## Key bindings to try first
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| Key | Action |
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|-----|--------|
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| `T` | Enter tile mode — reassign category axes |
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| `[` / `]` | Cycle through page-axis items |
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| `>` | Drill into an aggregated cell |
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| `<` | Return from drill-down |
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| `F` | Open the formula panel |
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| `t` | Transpose rows and columns |
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| `?` / `F1` | Full key reference |
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| `:w` | Save |
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| `:q` | Quit |
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## Installation
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### From source with Nix (preferred)
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```sh
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nix develop
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cargo build --release
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# optionally install to your PATH:
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cargo install --path .
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```
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### From crates.io
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```sh
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cargo install improvise
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```
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### Prebuilt binaries
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See the [GitHub releases page](https://github.com/fiddlerwoaroof/improvise/releases)
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for prebuilt binaries (Linux x86_64, macOS Intel and Apple Silicon).
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## What's interesting about the codebase
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The data model stores every cell at the intersection of named categories and
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items — `(Region=East, Measure=Revenue)` — rather than at a grid address like
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`B3`. A view is a configuration that assigns each category to a row, column,
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page, or hidden axis, and the grid layout is computed as a pure function from
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`(Model, View)` to `GridLayout`. Transposing a pivot is just swapping the row
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and column assignments; records mode is just assigning the virtual `_Index` and
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`_Dim` categories to particular axes. The formula language references dimension
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names (`Profit = Revenue - Cost`), so formulas survive any rearrangement
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without rewriting. All user actions go through a command/effect pipeline:
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commands are pure functions that read an immutable context and return a list of
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effects, which are the only things that mutate state. The same command registry
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serves both the interactive TUI and the headless `cmd`/`script` CLI
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subcommands. Models persist to a markdown-like `.improv` format that is
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human-readable, git-diffable, and optionally gzip-compressed.
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## Expectations
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improvise is a personal project I built for my own use. I'm sharing it because
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other people might find it useful, but I can't promise active maintenance or
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feature development. Issues and PRs are welcome but may not get a fast
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response. If you want to build on it, fork away.
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## License
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Apache-2.0
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