Aggregate

Collects data in alpha or numeric order. The detail data is hidden. Aggregation often but not always involves a calculation. Aggregating a population list of states and cities will aggregate the list by multiple cities in states by states, totaling the city population of cities by state.

Between

“..” – two dots or periods means “between”. For example, 1/1/10..2/15/10 will return a list of all items between January 1, 2010 and February 15, 2010.

Compare

Places values in order next to another set of values. For example, expenses for January 2009 can be compared to expenses for January 2010.

Data Web

Data that is on the web and stored in a data format, such as CSV, XML, or XLS. The data web is potentially many times greater than the document web, particularly when we consider the massive data that is in databases but not yet on the web.

Data-as-the-UI

Data-as-the-UI means that the user is connected directly to a visual representation of data – either rows and columns, as in simple data, or to a menu of data, in the case of complex data. Commands are issued simply by clicking on the data. Data-as-the-UI lets the user interact with data directly without complex query languages or clumsy natural language.

Document Web

The web as we know it: HTML pages stored on web servers. Pages are indexed by search engines. When you search with a search engine you type in a word, words, or a phrase, and a list of documents and a brief selection of the page adds context.

Exclude

Eliminates a specific value, expressed by the “!” character. For example, !apples will return all fruit except for apples.

Filter

Provides a subset of a larger set of data. Filtering “apples” from fruit will return only apples from all fruit. Filtering on a date will return only that date.

Group

Takes detail data and organizes it by a common denominator under a heading. Similar to aggregating but displays the detail.\

List

“,” - comma separators can be used to select two or more different items. For example, 1/1/10..2/15/10, 4/1/10..5/15/10 will return a list of all items between January 1, 2010 and February 15, 2010, AND all values between April 1, 2010 and May 15, 2010.

Sort

Places values in numerical, date, or alphabetical order: 1 3 5 7 9 2 4 6 8 will be put in 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 order. A reverse sort places the numbers from high to low. The same is true for dates and strings.

Trend

Lets you see data changing over any increment of time, typically but not limited to months, quarters or years. Trending income and expenses lets you see the changes in the data over the period of your choice.

Wildcard

“*” - asterisks include one or more unspecified characters or numbers. For example, 25* returns all values that starts with 25. App* will return apple, applied, and application.