Charles:

I don't quite get the "by design phrase" you use:

Why does Excel even bother to start calculating any cell formula
expression (such as the one containing my, or any user defined
function) until it has finished calculating all precedents?

Or is such an approach incompatible with the general calculation
optimizing scheme used by excel? It certainly seem unintuitive, but
them very little in optimization solutions ever is . . .

Anyway any thought, however brief on this would be greatly
appreciated, as it sure appeared to me (and I would imagine many
others) to more of a design "flaw" than "feature".

If the answer is on your site, I have not yet found it . . .

Thanks again, Nick

On Wed, 10 Dec 2008 11:44:30 -0000, "Charles Williams"
wrote:

That's a wonderful example of the way Excel's recalculation process works
(this behaviour is by design).