Re: [PATCH] lisp/org-table.el: Allow named columns on lhs

[Max Nikulin]

On 25/07/2023 03:29, Gavin Downard wrote:
> Max Nikulin writes:
> > I have tried the patch. The formula for the named column "$three=" does
> > not work.
> >
> > | ! | one | two | three | four |
> > |---+-----+-----+-------+------|
> > | # |   1 |   2 |       |    3 |
> > #+tblfm: @>$5=$one+$two::@>$three=$one+$two
>
> Yeah, I guess my current patch only supports column names in column
> formulas. Allowing column names inside of arbitrary references will take
> some more comprehensive changes. I'll see what I can do.

The regexp for parsing formulas does not allow named references after @. 
I have no idea if other code should be modified as well. I consider it 
as more important than detection of duplicated definitions.

A crazy idea: several columns may have the same name:

|   | Jun sum | Jun count | Jun avg | Jul sum | Jul count | Jul avg |
| ! |         |           | average |         |           | average |
|---+---------+-----------+---------+---------+-----------+---------|
|   |  150    | 10        |         | 200     |        14 |         |
#+tblfm: $average=$-2/$-1

It has no sense for numeric references but with names it can help to 
avoid repeated expressions.