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abax documentation

abax is a keyboard-first statistics and data-science workstation — an integrated environment for data work, built on a fast, scriptable spreadsheet. Import a dataset, explore it with 642 formula functions (statistics and distributions, financial, engineering, database, and RF/amateur-radio), run built-in analyses, reshape and visualize it, hand a selection to pandas, and script everything with Python — over CSV, Excel, Parquet, SQLite, JSON, R, and more. It runs as a Qt desktop GUI (the default), a vim-style terminal UI, or a headless CLI. The core is dependency-free; optional features are opt-in from a first-run chooser (nothing is installed until you choose it).

  • License: GPL-3.0-or-later — see LICENSE and licensing.md.
  • Default Qt binding: PySide6 (LGPL); PyQt6 is also supported.

This documentation is published online at https://leavesofgrass.github.io/abax/ — that's where the app's Help → Documentation (online) link goes. Its source lives in the repository under docs/, so a source checkout has it locally; a binary install does not, and reads it here. The application itself runs fully offline — only the docs site and a few opt-in features (live-data formulas, optional-dependency install, pandoc-based document conversion) use the network.

Data science with abax

  • Data science overview — the end-to-end workflow: import → explore → analyze → reshape → visualize → script → export.
  • Data & analysis tools — descriptive statistics, regression, t-tests, ANOVA, correlation, pivot/group-by, recode, the pandas hand-off, graphing, and the ML tools.
  • Charts — embedded chart objects: anchored to the sheet, driven by a range, refreshed on recalc, and saved in the file — ten kinds, rendered by the stdlib SVG engine or the optional matplotlib backend.
  • Conditional formatting — colour cells by value: comparisons, text/regex matches, duplicates, ranking, colour scales, and CSS styling, with worked examples.
  • Formula reference — every built-in function, including the statistical distributions (normal, t, F, chi-square) and regression helpers.
  • Calculators — RPN, graphing, and algebraic calculators with a two-way cell value bridge.
  • RF toolkit & antenna modeling — RF engineering functions (link budget, transmission line & matching, Maidenhead grid, band plan / CTCSS), the Smith chart, dipole impedance, and a thin-wire Method-of-Moments solver with wire junctions, a ground-reflection take-off model, and NEC .nec import/export. Amateur-radio logging adds contest/POTA/SOTA dupe-checking and QSO-scoring functions (ISDUPE, QSOPOINTS) and an activation-log dialog; satellite pass prediction from a TLE is available with the optional satellite extra.
  • Jupyter integration — lossless .ipynb round-trip, rich display, abax as a Jupyter kernel, and the editable-sheet widget.

Working in abax

  • Getting started — install, launch, and a 5-minute walkthrough.
  • Examples — tested, copy-paste examples: each is a folder with a run.py and the exact output you should see, covering formulas, data cleaning, tables, goal seek, conditional formatting, charts, the CLI, and contest logging.
  • GUI guide — the grid, Excel-style keyboard navigation, selection statistics, formatting, cell borders and merged cells, freeze panes, find/replace, themes, and accessibility options (high-contrast mode, spoken active-cell readout).
  • File manager — the dual-pane browser, archiving, search, and configurable command buttons.
  • Project management — task tracking with ten live views (Kanban, Gantt, Calendar, …), CPM scheduling, scenarios, import/export, budget roll-up, and Earned Value Management.
  • Budgeting — the budget wizard and the live SUMIF-driven budget sheet.
  • File formats — CSV, Excel, ODS, Parquet, XML, Markdown, Jupyter, R, SQLite, JSON Lines, ADIF logbooks, and the native .abax envelope.
  • Command-line interface — headless view/convert/get/diff/ pipe/profile/report/macro/notebook/deps plus the GUI/TUI launchers.
  • Configuration — settings, auto-install, environment variables, themes, fonts, runtime paths, iterative (circular-reference) calculation, and third-party plugin consent (off by default).

Extend & contribute

  • Macros & scripting — command macros, UDFs, recording, and the extension model.
  • Python console — the REPL wired to the live workbook: read and write cells, the pandas hand-off, SQL across sheets, and loading files.
  • Terminal — the in-app system shell, with the current selection exported to commands as $ABAX_* environment variables.
  • Architecture — the three-layer seam, invariants, the Qt binding shim, the virtualized grid, and the build.
  • Licensing & notices — GPL, third-party components, trademarks, and attribution.