Will VBA Die? (2019)

> Comparing [JavaScript] to C# is really not appropriate here, for so many reasons. I do think you know the main differences between [interpreted], transpiled and compiled for starters...

Are you saying there is a fundamental difference between JavaScript and C# in this regard? I don't think there is.

Each language has a compiler that compiles source code to bytecode. Each has an interpreter that can directly execute that bytecode, and a Just In Time compiler that can compile the bytecode into native machine code.

These languages, along with Java, are pretty much identical with regard to these distinctions.

Transpiled and transpilation are ugly and unnecessary words. They are just a fancy way of saying compiled and compilation.

Some make a distinction between a transpiler and a compiler; however this is a distinction without a difference. A compiler transforms source code into object code. The source code or the object code may be a "low level" language like bytecode or machine code. Or either may be a "high level" language.

For example, TypeScript has a compiler that compiles TypeScript code into JavaScript. [1]

The original implementation of C++ was Cfront, a compiler that compiled C++ code into C code. [2]

For that matter, "machine code" on modern CPUs is a high level language of its own, which bears little resemblance to the low level operations that happen within the CPU.

[1] "The command-line TypeScript compiler can be installed as a Node.js package." https://www.typescriptlang.org/

[2] Personal discussion with Bjarne Stroustrup on BIX around 1985 when I called Cfront a "preprocessor" and he chewed me out and told me it was a compiler just like any other compiler. Also: "Cfront was the original compiler for C++... which converted C++ to C" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cfront

VBA was the first environment/language that I professionally used at the beginning of my career. It was so efficient to navigate in an environment that had 1000s of Excel files. I did not realise how fast I could develop the things needed to be done.

Some points:

* I guess with Office365, JavaScript makes some sense, but why not just go VBA to WebAssembly?

* What about the Python rumors a couple years ago?

* I should probably turn my NecroVisualBasiCon library into A book. If you use the Access.Application library, right-click and toggle the hidden members, that COM object has a few extras like loading/saving objects from the VBProject that make e.g. git integration feasible.

* VBA does an outstanding job of providing 80% of what you want and no more.

I know many non-technical people love VBA because it empowers them to do cool things, especially in Excel. However, there is a no smaller number of people who view VBA as a necessary evil, because they are forced to do programming and they are not programmers. It's also well-known that VBA macros written by non-professional programmers tend to become a cumbersome, unreadable, unmaintainable mess. My favorite case is when VBA is used to insert complex multi-line formulas in a spreadsheet, run calculations, then do it again with another set of formulas.

I believe, VBA will remain as a general purpose language for long time, but it will be partially replaced by tools that are purpose-built for tasks such as data preparation. We've seen it with EasyMorph (https://easymorph.com), a visual data preparation tool we've created exactly for heavy Excel users without a technical background. It works very well for them and we get a lot of praise for it. If this approach works for data preparation, probably it will work for other types of automation too.