41–50 of 78 posts
This reminds me of the 3D roller coaster simulator in Excel[1]. The difference here is this was made for readability in mind and even works without macros. [1] http://www.excelunusual.com/coaster/
anyway, that's absolutely insane. The 3D engine seems to be laggy, on the video anyway, whereas this rollecoaster is pretty smooth !
Anyone created a RESTful framework for excel yet? Maybe a package management tool as well?
Using that data source snippet I wrote a 'static' CMS that pulls the JSON data from sheets in the workbook and then compiles and deploys a Jekyll site. I've been enthusiastically replacing WordPress sites with this wherever possible when clients only need data to change and don't require actual page editing (this system is perfect for restaurants - think menu changes). The "deploy" event is a little convoluted since I wanted to control what happens and when it happens, but it is all kicked off by submitting a Google Form which is attached to the Sheet.
The script as-is returns one object per row but converting it to key/value responses is also pretty easy. If Office365 has an equivalent to Google App Scripts that can publish a script as a web app, I'd love to hear about it.
[0] https://gist.github.com/chrsstrm/3fb0ce6820acecf62c5490d220d...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If Excel had just a couple more features it could be much more ergonomic and not even need macros. Specifically: anonymous functions/lambdas made with just pure formulas. Define a function in a cell like `=($s) => [expr]` (or something idc). Call it with `=A1("string arg", B2:B100)` or by name if you name it via named ranges. Functions are obviously a new data type, so you can pass them as parameters to each other or…
I think I disagree entirely. The typical things one gains from higher order functions are things like mapping and filtering of data structures. Excel only has one data structure—the table. Mapping is done by writing the formula once and then dragging it from the corner to the whole column. Filtering is not really done. Normally use the gui to hide the rows to be filtered away. Functions add in questions of scoping. H…
I should open this in LibreOffice :-) Actually, I’ve been wondering how to create a comprehensive spreadsheet that tests all of Excel’s features. Kind of like an ACID3 for spreadsheets...
If you have LibreOffice installed, it takes less time to actually try it, than to post a comment.
This reminds me of the 3D roller coaster simulator in Excel[1]. The difference here is this was made for readability in mind and even works without macros. [1] http://www.excelunusual.com/coaster/
I love how the suggested video at the end is "Introduction to pivot table" anyway, that's absolutely insane. The 3D engine seems to be laggy, on the video anyway, whereas this rollecoaster is pretty smooth !
It’s like the difference between text rendering versus decompressing JPEG images. Both can pile up enough data to exhibit lag, but you get more bang for your buck with the lighter data stream.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You jest, but people really do underestimate Excel. Yes, it sucks - but there is a reason that despite all its flaws, people keep trying to use it for things . (And no, that reason is not "they're too stupid to learn how to code") And I'm not sure the things that make Excel so crappy could really be fixed without sacrificing the things that make it such a flexible and useful tool. For instance, adding the ability to…
For me it usually is "I would like to use some sensible tools, but corporate policy requires me to not do that (because they are not available) - so I have to (ab)use Excel/Office/VBA to get things done." It's not pretty, stable, efficient or really maintainable, but if you are forced to use a hammer.. ps. Excel does some things OK, like drawing pretty graphs on smallish datasets and visualize quick analysis with piv…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You jest, but people really do underestimate Excel. Yes, it sucks - but there is a reason that despite all its flaws, people keep trying to use it for things . (And no, that reason is not "they're too stupid to learn how to code") And I'm not sure the things that make Excel so crappy could really be fixed without sacrificing the things that make it such a flexible and useful tool. For instance, adding the ability to…
I work for NASA JPL... I think most people would be amazed if they knew how much “rocket science” was done in Excel.