Applying programming language research ideas to transform spreadsheets
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Re: Applying programming language research ideas to transform spreadsheets
#2The ideal spreadsheet should be a mix of Excel, Geogebra, reactive Jupyter Notebook (like ObservableHQ or Vue.js computed properties), programmable in Python, C#, JavaScript and/or other languages with the ability to embed third-party widgets like maps or custom charts. And decent data connectors with SQL-like query syntax (including JOINs).
Re: Applying programming language research ideas to transform spreadsheets
#3As a programmer, excel would be so much more useful if it allowed you to do things like filtering and selects using SQL or some other code so you didn't have to rely on the UI so much to do filtering.
Re: Applying programming language research ideas to transform spreadsheets
#4Banks do crazy stuff with excel. I embedded a higher order functional language natively in excel 10 years back....
Re: Applying programming language research ideas to transform spreadsheets
#5As a programmer, excel would be so much more useful if it allowed you to do things like filtering and selects using SQL or some other code so you didn't have to rely on the UI so much to do filtering.
Try powerQuery (Microsoft’s addon for just this) - it does it really well
Re: Applying programming language research ideas to transform spreadsheets
#6A simple scripting language, like LabView’s C subset, that could take arguments out of cells, and write to cells, would be welcome. VBA has too much gobbledegook for a user like me. Python could also be embedded.
Re: Applying programming language research ideas to transform spreadsheets
#7Banks do crazy stuff with excel. I embedded a higher order functional language natively in excel 10 years back.... http://cufp.org/2009/fmd-functional-development-excel.html
Banks, insurers, accountants; I know a company with 100M euro rev per year that runs entirely on Excel with VBA. Their office car park gate is opened, closed and managed with Excel.
It sounds crazy but the CTO is a cofounder and he found it is much cheaper to just do everthing that way. They have been running like that for over 20 years.
Re: Applying programming language research ideas to transform spreadsheets
#8The thing I need most is for "Save" to do "Pull in dependencies and and check into version control".
That way my people can still use Excel but I have a way of validating and controlling it.
Re: Applying programming language research ideas to transform spreadsheets
#9Having Excel save and load readable and editable source file would be the best improvement for me... Version control, easy editing with vim etc while interoperable for people who like Excel. No programming language research needed for that; just normal programming best practices.
Re: Applying programming language research ideas to transform spreadsheets
#10Banks do crazy stuff with excel. I embedded a higher order functional language natively in excel 10 years back.... http://cufp.org/2009/fmd-functional-development-excel.html
Banks, insurers, accountants; I know a company with 100M euro rev per year that runs entirely on Excel with VBA. Their office car park gate is opened, closed and managed with Excel. It sounds crazy but the CTO is a cofounder and he found it is much cheaper to just do everthing that way. They have been running like that for over 20 years.
It isn't the language for everything, but I've found you can do so much with a spreadsheet and a little VBA. Optimization, graphics, math...whatever.
I also figure the company you refer to has some real benefit by focusing on one technology everyone knows.
But how and the heck do they manage a gate in a spreadsheet?