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Why do people still use VBA?

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Re: Why do people still use VBA?

#21

Post by owlninja »

_boffin_ wrote: post #5

Because it’s amazing! /s Years ago, I heard that JP Morgan had +20k access databases on their network. The data analysts that make up companies far and wide one day discovered that they hate what they’re doing every day. They investigate the “record macro” button. Some might even find it nifty. They use it again and again. Some may even try to get smart and investigate and get curious of the code that it spat out. So…

Or possibly they went to the IT department who threw down so much red tape from their ivory tower they were forced into the "shadow IT" sector. I've seen in large enterprises where some analysts have the skills to take the Frankenstein they built to the proper level, but are met with "well we need to start a project and make tickets, timelines, requirements, etc..". They certainly have good reasons - supporting something that anyone has to step into and learn is a valid concern. But as long as the business has access to tools that solve their problems, the "bored" ones will find a way. Too much friction.

Re: Why do people still use VBA?

#22

Post by wly_cdgr »

Cos they already know it and it's good enough to accomplish their goals. Nobody gives a dying duck about your new/better thing unless it makes their miserlable office slave life slightly more bearable not in the long term, not in the medium term, not even in the short term. In the IMMEDIATE term.

Re: Why do people still use VBA?

#23

Post by 13of40 »

TheJoeMan wrote: post #18
jodrellblank wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PowerShell including ISE, with tabs, multi-line cursor, syntax highlighting, autocomplete, step-through debugger, snippets, scriptable/extensible.

And yet if you send your PS script to say an HR person… it won’t run on their computer without messing with security settings.

Nobody on the team wanted that, not even Snover, but we were making that thing in about 2005, when everyone was getting burned by email based zero days. Even though we had the Set-ExecutionPolicy thing there were boogeyman news articles immediately after the v1 release asking whether the new scripting language was...too powerful.

Re: Why do people still use VBA?

#24

Post by Valgrim »

kibwen wrote: post #17
jbandela1 wrote: post #6

Why do Linux/Unix/Mac developers write shell scripts, when there are so many better languages out there? A large part is it integrates well with the shell and it is ubiquitous. VBA is basically the scripting language of Office. It integrates well with Microsoft Office, and in a business environment, pretty much everyone has access to it. Are there better languages? Sure. However, it is hard to beat the integration an…

The difference here is that Linux devs would get rightly chided for building entire applications in shell scripts. The existence a "glue language" isn't a bad thing, rather, it's a good thing. But when you wake up to find that your whole project is made of 100% glue, you might consider that a bit of a mess.

Are entire VBA projects really that ubiquitous? As far as I can see, there are really two category of those: first are the huge proprietary plugins from large B2B companies that serve as a way to deeply integrate their products into Excel Spreadsheets, and the second are more like extremely customized tools built by the enthusiastic tinkerer of a non-technical team to make a complex and repetitive task easier.

If there's a third category, please enlighten me

Re: Why do people still use VBA?

#25

Post by Aloha »

The real answer as pointed out in this document is simple - IT Security and Administrative policy in non-technology companies trends towards restriction and justification rather than permissiveness.

I work in a role that develops air gapped custom communications system, my title is engineer - and to that end I have a broad cross domain knowledge - including traditional system administration tasks. I have to go thru special justification to get local admin to install software our company makes. T

here appears to be a future that will prevent me from using a thumb drive to move our software and configurations from my work PC to our systems - when we ask IT for a solution, they tell us "us the approved file sharing mechanisms" - which are basically limited to OneDrive. On top of all of that, per the written policy, we regularly violate written policy - for example distributing software requires LOB executive permission - which in the context of our larger company would be CEO level - and this is just one glaring example.

IT is either clueless or doesn't care and no one outside of my LOB cares - or is aware - and nothing will change until security policy prevents a major project from delivering on time.

Re: Why do people still use VBA?

#26

Post by [deleted] »

kibwen wrote: post #17
jbandela1 wrote: post #6

Why do Linux/Unix/Mac developers write shell scripts, when there are so many better languages out there? A large part is it integrates well with the shell and it is ubiquitous. VBA is basically the scripting language of Office. It integrates well with Microsoft Office, and in a business environment, pretty much everyone has access to it. Are there better languages? Sure. However, it is hard to beat the integration an…

The difference here is that Linux devs would get rightly chided for building entire applications in shell scripts. The existence a "glue language" isn't a bad thing, rather, it's a good thing. But when you wake up to find that your whole project is made of 100% glue, you might consider that a bit of a mess.

[deleted]

Re: Why do people still use VBA?

#28

Post by j45 »

Sometimes it’s the only thing available in a very locked down enterprise or corporate environment and the pace of implementing something new is too slow.

Re: Why do people still use VBA?

#29

Post by mech7654 »

Valgrim wrote: post #24
kibwen wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference here is that Linux devs would get rightly chided for building entire applications in shell scripts. The existence a "glue language" isn't a bad thing, rather, it's a good thing. But when you wake up to find that your whole project is made of 100% glue, you might consider that a bit of a mess.

Are entire VBA projects really that ubiquitous? As far as I can see, there are really two category of those: first are the huge proprietary plugins from large B2B companies that serve as a way to deeply integrate their products into Excel Spreadsheets, and the second are more like extremely customized tools built by the enthusiastic tinkerer of a non-technical team to make a complex and repetitive task easier. If the…

Gigantic engineering mathematics calculation tools.

Re: Why do people still use VBA?

#30

Post by Arch485 »

Valgrim wrote: post #24
kibwen wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference here is that Linux devs would get rightly chided for building entire applications in shell scripts. The existence a "glue language" isn't a bad thing, rather, it's a good thing. But when you wake up to find that your whole project is made of 100% glue, you might consider that a bit of a mess.

Are entire VBA projects really that ubiquitous? As far as I can see, there are really two category of those: first are the huge proprietary plugins from large B2B companies that serve as a way to deeply integrate their products into Excel Spreadsheets, and the second are more like extremely customized tools built by the enthusiastic tinkerer of a non-technical team to make a complex and repetitive task easier. If the…

"There's this one guy who doesn't really know how to program, but he made some software that benefits the company. This software is now so complex the original creator is in way over his head, but continues to work on the software anyways, and it'a a huge mess" is category 3. I've seen it happen multiple times.
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