Keep using excel, access, js and Python. It’ll be fine. >.>
Scientists rename genes to stop Microsoft Excel from misreading them as dates (2020)
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Re: Scientists rename genes to stop Microsoft Excel from misreading them as dates (2020)
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't have to distinguish anything, I just have to the humility to listen to what the experts say, rather than a bunch of webdevs. EDIT: Also, i'm not a biologist, but I see the same phenomenon in finance where a bunch of low pay webdevs nobodies refuse to make an effort to understand why Excel is popular, push their half backed solutions, and then are confused that nobody uses them, and frustrated when showed for…
What difference does it make if they’re low paid or not? If you want to sound reasonable, at least try to hide your contempt. Better luck next time.
It makes a difference because those that solve problems are well paid, whereas those than spend their time pushing their ideals of how things "should be", aren't.
Re: Scientists rename genes to stop Microsoft Excel from misreading them as dates (2020)
#93I think implicit conversions is the other billion dollar mistake in computing. It just shows up as a subtle source of mistakes in so many places. JavaScript, MySQL, YAML, Excel, PHP, just to make a few off the top of my head, have all caused countless bugs and security exploits due to implicit conversations of data which can be interpreted in multiple ways, and where the system happened to pick the wrong one.
What's the first billion dollar mistake in computing?
Re: Scientists rename genes to stop Microsoft Excel from misreading them as dates (2020)
#94I think implicit conversions is the other billion dollar mistake in computing. It just shows up as a subtle source of mistakes in so many places. JavaScript, MySQL, YAML, Excel, PHP, just to make a few off the top of my head, have all caused countless bugs and security exploits due to implicit conversations of data which can be interpreted in multiple ways, and where the system happened to pick the wrong one.
What's the first billion dollar mistake in computing?
Re: Scientists rename genes to stop Microsoft Excel from misreading them as dates (2020)
#95I dont really get why every tool must be suited for everyone. If excel (which was absolutely not designed for genetic research) is bad for genetic research purposes why blame microsoft. Its like a craft man complaining that a screwdriver is a bad tool if your job is to put in nails.
Well if the screwdriver sales guy takes your bosses bosses boss and their spouse out for a nice dinner, mysteriously leading to your org purchasing screwdrivers for everyone who is asking for a hammer to do their work then maybe the hypothetical craftsperson might start complaining.
A ridiculously large number of people have excel installations and exactly zero budget to get access to a less shit tool.
Re: Scientists rename genes to stop Microsoft Excel from misreading them as dates (2020)
#96Re: Scientists rename genes to stop Microsoft Excel from misreading them as dates (2020)
#97Or they could set the format of the column to text instead of keeping it as general and everything would just work. If these "scientists" are having this problem then they haven't spent any time at all learning how to use the tool they rely on. Can we trust anything these people produce if this is the level of competence they have with Excel?
C/C++ developers could just use the tooling available to them to mitigate memory management issues, but they don't. Why should we trust anything programmers produce if this is the level of competence they have with their chosen tools?
Re: Scientists rename genes to stop Microsoft Excel from misreading them as dates (2020)
#98So let me get this straight: Scientists would rather rename genes, than to simply use a tool other than MS Excel?
> So let me get this straight: Scientists would rather rename genes, than to simply use a tool other than MS Excel? It's not that they'd rather. They understand that a trillion dollar corporation cannot supply the most basic tool they need for work, despite trying for 40 years. They just can't effect change. The real problem behind it all is that they allow themselves to be bullied. Despite holding multiple PhDs they…
I don't buy it. There are many open source tools, there's even WSL these days, so there's very little reason for frowning upon Linux.
The real story for me is that people are lazy and rather deal with the annoyances they already know and that are one click away than learn new tools.
Re: Scientists rename genes to stop Microsoft Excel from misreading them as dates (2020)
#99Re: Scientists rename genes to stop Microsoft Excel from misreading them as dates (2020)
#100It's from August 2020 with the latest update almost 6 months ago. Wondering how it got so many upvotes on HN now.
Because of this:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39823849
I went searching for it, found it interesting and so did others.