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Microsoft is bringing Python to Excel

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Re: Microsoft is bringing Python to Excel

#171

Post by [deleted] »

inglor wrote: post #49
cableshaft wrote: post #13

I wish it wasn't solely powered only by Microsoft Cloud and could support python running locally, but regardless I think this will still be huge and single-handedly modernizes Excel by a large margin. This alone could eliminate the need for websites that just want this sort of data. I can think of a past project at a previous job I did building an analytics website used only by a handful of people internally that cou…

Hi I work on Excel, can you write a summary of why that's important to you and send it to bgruenbaum@microsoft.com ? I'll get it in front of a PM. Alternatively PMs read all the feedback sent via the feedback UI on Excel web and desktop so you can use that instead if you prefer.

[deleted]

Re: Microsoft is bringing Python to Excel

#172

Post by tsujamin »

cableshaft wrote: post #13

I wish it wasn't solely powered only by Microsoft Cloud and could support python running locally, but regardless I think this will still be huge and single-handedly modernizes Excel by a large margin. This alone could eliminate the need for websites that just want this sort of data. I can think of a past project at a previous job I did building an analytics website used only by a handful of people internally that cou…

As a red teamer, I also wish it supported running python locally :)

Re: Microsoft is bringing Python to Excel

#173

Post by darkarmani »

snickerbockers wrote: post #150
localhost wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are few key reasons for running in a hypervisor isolated container on Azure with no access to the Internet: - We can guarantee a consistent experience for all users. Imagine having to maintain your own local distribution of Python and guaranteeing that it works with Excel as versions diverge over time? Yikes. - We make it possible to share your Excel workbook with other users and have the calculation just work.…

I agree with point 3, but points one and two don't make any sense because games have been skipping with Python scripting for decades and this is never a problem. The python interpreter is embedded into your program as a library and it doesn't have any dependency on the whatever python version the user installed.

It's the dependency hell problem as packages are added to the sandbox environment. If they were just shipping python (standard library), it would be fine, but all of the useful libraries have large numbers of dependencies.

Re: Microsoft is bringing Python to Excel

#174

Post by pessimizer »

cpuguy83 wrote: post #135
cableshaft wrote: post #13

I wish it wasn't solely powered only by Microsoft Cloud and could support python running locally, but regardless I think this will still be huge and single-handedly modernizes Excel by a large margin. This alone could eliminate the need for websites that just want this sort of data. I can think of a past project at a previous job I did building an analytics website used only by a handful of people internally that cou…

Adding python support for local use would be a great way for me never to open an excel file ever again. That is so dangerous. Wasm maybe, full-blown runtime without any sandboxing? Nope.

What's the difference between Python and VBA in that respect? Do you open Excel files now? Pretty sure that wild Office macros were once one of the main sources for computer herpes.

Re: Microsoft is bringing Python to Excel

#175

Post by Aardwolf »

cableshaft wrote: post #13

I wish it wasn't solely powered only by Microsoft Cloud and could support python running locally, but regardless I think this will still be huge and single-handedly modernizes Excel by a large margin. This alone could eliminate the need for websites that just want this sort of data. I can think of a past project at a previous job I did building an analytics website used only by a handful of people internally that cou…

> This alone could eliminate the need for websites that just want this sort of data.

But Microsoft Cloud is a website!

Re: Microsoft is bringing Python to Excel

#176

Post by darkarmani »

baz00 wrote: post #143
ayhanfuat wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is easier to manage to be honest. They are using Anaconda distributions so if you tie each workbook to a distribution with possibility to update/rollback it makes things a lot easier than trying to manage a local installation.

Try explaining that to the dude who inherited the workbook in 9 months who doesn't know what Anaconda is, barely knows what Python is and was told that his job was Excel which he's really good at because he did a Udemy course on it 3 years ago. That's the problem.

I'm not sure why that is a problem. He didn't have to know anything about Anaconda. And for stability, you can still install 10-year old python 2.7 packages from Anaconda.

9 months is no problem at all for stability.

Re: Microsoft is bringing Python to Excel

#177

Post by amon22 »

diffeomorphism wrote: post #24

Wait just a moment. Libreoffice had python for years, but nobody cared and instead complained about needing 100% compatible VBA for "real work". Where are those people now?

I would happily use Libreoffice if any of my clients did. But nobody does. Compatibility would be nice so I can write stuff in Libreoffice Calc on Linux (Excel has 0 Linux support) and ship it to clients without issues, but this even close to be possible.

Re: Microsoft is bringing Python to Excel

#178

Post by layer8 »

bafe wrote: post #133
layer8 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Integrating a whole separate language ecosystem is one or two orders of magnitude more complex though. It’s more like HTML5/WHATWG suddenly adding Python as a first-class scripting language besides JavaScript, and web browsers having to integrate that.

Isn't this what people are trying to do with pyscript? Although in that case it uses WASM?

It’s different because WASM is much more strictly defined and has a more limited scope than Python. Thanks to WASM, browsers don’t have be able to understand Python/PyScript. The trade-off is that you can’t, for example, view/edit the Python code in the browser’s devtools.

A WASM-like approach wouldn’t work very well for Excel, because you’re supposed to be able to edit the source code/formulas within the Excel application.

Re: Microsoft is bringing Python to Excel

#179

Post by gpjt »

nprateem wrote: post #170
gpjt wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's https://pyscript.net/ -- or do you mean for scripting the browser's behaviour rather than replacing JS in website code?

Yeah, making python a first-class browser scripting language to displace JS. I think we all know it's time. Even if it takes a decade for ubiquity, it'll be worth it.

Definitely check out PyScript if you haven't already. It works pretty well and is being actively developed. (Full disclosure: I work for Anaconda, which is the primary developer.)

Re: Microsoft is bringing Python to Excel

#180

Post by FredPret »

tzs wrote: post #38

This sounds like it provides a way for Excel to hand a bunch of data to Python code for processing and get back results, and vice versa. That's probably extremely valuable to many people, but it does not seem to be what I hope for whenever I see something about bringing Python to Excel. What I hope for is something that is like VBA but without the VB. I.e., a Python (or JavaScript) interpreter/JIT/compiler built into…

That would be very cool. Python with Excel as the GUI.
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