Power Fx: open-source now available • Hacker News Board

Re: Power Fx: open-source now available

#21

Post by sneeeeeed » Thu, Nov 18, 2021, 6:37 AM UTC

This is neat but how is it low-code?

Re: Power Fx: open-source now available

#22

Post by sneeeeeed » Thu, Nov 18, 2021, 6:39 AM UTC

p2t2p wrote: post #16

Darn it, every time MS does something like it I feel an urge to get myself a Windows laptop. Gotta control myself.

Just run it in a VM, no random reboots to hold you hostage.

Re: Power Fx: open-source now available

#23

Post by vxNsr » Thu, Nov 18, 2021, 6:42 AM UTC

sneeeeeed wrote: post #22

p2t2p wrote: post #16

Darn it, every time MS does something like it I feel an urge to get myself a Windows laptop. Gotta control myself.

Just run it in a VM, no random reboots to hold you hostage.

OH but each time you boot it up, it's slow as molasses as it force runs those updates, ask me how I know.

Re: Power Fx: open-source now available

#24

Post by orionblastar » Thu, Nov 18, 2021, 6:49 AM UTC

semicolon_storm wrote: post #2

A bit disappointing that it's only the C# interpreter that has been released and not also the JS version used in Power Apps. Still neat to play with though.

It doesn't have semicolons at the end of the lines, it looks more like VBScript or VBA to me.

Re: Power Fx: open-source now available

#25

Post by maxpert » Thu, Nov 18, 2021, 6:51 AM UTC

Reading the comments here I wonder if there can be an opensource project doing the spec implementation, or define a spec for implementation. I can see people frustrated with Power Query or constant changes everywhere.

Re: Power Fx: open-source now available

#26

Post by maxpert » Thu, Nov 18, 2021, 6:54 AM UTC

dr_kiszonka wrote: post #19

PL question: Power FX follows the spreadsheet model where a change in one variable propagates and updates all variables that depend on it. I am curious why this model isn't more popular. Is it more computationally intensive?

Complexity, humans are not good at complexity beyond certain levels. One good example of such model is in React + Redux story. Based on single variable your view might have 10/20 changes and to this day I see people debating what is the right way to do it (React hooks vs Redux is latest episode).

Re: Power Fx: open-source now available

#27

Post by KarlKemp » Thu, Nov 18, 2021, 7:00 AM UTC

Great, I installed the Visual Studio for Mac (that I didn't know existed) and it immediately froze my Macbook, something that hasn't happened to me in recent history.

So I guess they really do support the full Microsoft experience on Mac.

Re: Power Fx: open-source now available

#28

Post by nyanpasu64 » Thu, Nov 18, 2021, 7:06 AM UTC

maxpert wrote: post #26

dr_kiszonka wrote: post #19

PL question: Power FX follows the spreadsheet model where a change in one variable propagates and updates all variables that depend on it. I am curious why this model isn't more popular. Is it more computationally intensive?

Complexity, humans are not good at complexity beyond certain levels. One good example of such model is in React + Redux story. Based on single variable your view might have 10/20 changes and to this day I see people debating what is the right way to do it (React hooks vs Redux is latest episode).

In my experience/opinion as a programmer, property-bound state tracking (where you say C = A + B, and changing A or B changes C) is easier to understand than push-based updating of C when you change either A or B. Property binding (FRP?) causes the exact set of values dependent on an input to change when the input changes, with no chance to forget (though you can still forget to register a change callback on C). But it's not a complete solution for when you want to take different actions based on what changed (eg. pushing a button to send an email).

Re: Power Fx: open-source now available

#29

Post by cable2600 » Thu, Nov 18, 2021, 7:11 AM UTC

cardosof wrote: post #8

pid-1 wrote: post #5

My non tech users are still catching up with Power Query. I sort of gave up forwarding news related to low code from MS, as every week there's something changing or being deprecated. Moreover, every time I tried to use anything related to the Power Platform (so I could teach to others) I ended up in a world of pain. Is anyone actually using Power Apps, etc... Successfully?

I too quit playing catch up with MS no code stuff - they change so much it's definitely not "fast iteration", it's "throw everything and see what sticks".

Sigh another language to learn. Just released but I will see recruiters asking for five years experience in it for job openings.

It is like they took the macro language of Excel into its own app.

Re: Power Fx: open-source now available

#30

Post by dvdkon » Thu, Nov 18, 2021, 7:21 AM UTC

m0zg wrote: post #13

Who's the user for this? It looks too "dumb" for a "real" programmer, and way too "smart" for everyone else. There's no way a real user will be able to navigate that "formula bar". Source: have observed dozens of regular users through one-way mirror _while at MS_ ~18 years ago. The product later became Dynamics. Users would struggle to find the extremely prominent "OK" button sometimes, or press whichever button was…

It's for advanced Excel users, they basically deal with the complexity of programming, just in their strange way, and I think it's a good way to reduce "Excel abuse".