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Seeing like a spreadsheet

davidoks.blog

31–40 of 45 posts

Re: Seeing like a spreadsheet

#31
post #19

The rich and complex history of spreadsheets inspired me to build React Spreadsheet. Along the way I deepened (and others) understanding of the complexities and intricacies of spreadsheets https://iddan.github.io/react-spreadsheet

Thanks for that ad-read and self-promotion! Maybe next time you can contribute some insight that doesn't feed your balance (spread)sheet.

Re: Seeing like a spreadsheet

#32

Excel (e spreadsheets) is the best quantitative planning piece of software. There is no other planning tool in the software industry that can answer “what if I changed that” as seamlessly as excel. Planning is not about its absolute numbers but about its sensitivity to inputs and assumptions.

[dead]

Re: Seeing like a spreadsheet

#33
> But you will be hard-pressed to find a true admirer of Excel.

It’s a keyword search away. There are many, and they love Excel. How did you not find them?

https://excel-esports.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_Modeling_World_Cup

https://www.reddit.com/r/excel/comments/15r53rc/why_i_unapol...

Re: Seeing like a spreadsheet

#34
Really do think that spreadsheets are the most optimal way to coordinate agents.

Each row spins up a parallel agent, columns mapped as input, agent executes and writes new columns as output.

We tried initial implementation of this with rtrvr.ai building out Sheets Workflows, but I can't help but feel that there is a thread we're pulling towards a deeper insight on this

Re: Seeing like a spreadsheet

#35
the "financial ideology was blind to what could not be quantified" line is the whole essay in one sentence. worked at a startup that got acquired by PE and watched them reduce every relationship and piece of institutional knowledge into a cell in a model. six months later the people who actually knew why things were done a certain way had all left.

Re: Seeing like a spreadsheet

#36

Was anyone using a spreadsheet to drive automation for testing earlier than 1988? I have some reason to believe my team was the first within Apple SQA to lean heavily into that, but I’d love to hear of earlier examples.

I know that https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S2_Spreadsheet?wprov=sfla1 existed since '84 and was in use in disparate parts of the company (I hit the printer division in the summer of '88). IBM was still using mainframe tools, including FORTRAN and APL for engineering work, and we were using BASIC for some testing automation as well as stuff written in assembly (bit banging of parallel ports as GPIO).

Re: Seeing like a spreadsheet

#37
post #23

Excel (e spreadsheets) is the best quantitative planning piece of software. There is no other planning tool in the software industry that can answer “what if I changed that” as seamlessly as excel. Planning is not about its absolute numbers but about its sensitivity to inputs and assumptions.

can Numbers by Apple ever catch up ??

Pivot Tables was the last big feature completely missing, which is now available. Numbers might meet most of the spreadsheet requirements, except some scripting requirements. There is Applescript for those who are inclined that way. For my own use cases, I use LibreOffice Calc, even on macos. I started using it an year ago, just to see if it can work at all. So far, I haven't had any blockers, but my usage is probably not so complex.

Re: Seeing like a spreadsheet

#38
post #36

Was anyone using a spreadsheet to drive automation for testing earlier than 1988? I have some reason to believe my team was the first within Apple SQA to lean heavily into that, but I’d love to hear of earlier examples.

I know that https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S2_Spreadsheet?wprov=sfla1 existed since '84 and was in use in disparate parts of the company (I hit the printer division in the summer of '88). IBM was still using mainframe tools, including FORTRAN and APL for engineering work, and we were using BASIC for some testing automation as well as stuff written in assembly (bit banging of parallel ports as GPIO).

Automation was used in testing since the beginning, of course. (Earliest vivid example I have is from a 1956 television commercial.)

Spreadsheets certainly existed. We know that.

What I don't have is any example or testimonial from anyone, earlier than 1988, of using a spreadsheet to DRIVE automation used in testing. I would be surprised if I was the first to have thought of it. I can only say that my team asked around Apple and found no one doing this but our team, at that time.

Re: Seeing like a spreadsheet

#39
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

can Numbers by Apple ever catch up ??

Pivot Tables was the last big feature completely missing, which is now available. Numbers might meet most of the spreadsheet requirements, except some scripting requirements. There is Applescript for those who are inclined that way. For my own use cases, I use LibreOffice Calc, even on macos. I started using it an year ago, just to see if it can work at all. So far, I haven't had any blockers, but my usage is probabl…

Biggest blocker: I can’t create reliable excel sheets that potential investors can look at in MS Excel, formulas tend to break.

If I can’t share the spreadsheet, it’s not very useful.

Re: Seeing like a spreadsheet

#40

> But you will be hard-pressed to find a true admirer of Excel. It’s a keyword search away. There are many, and they love Excel. How did you not find them? https://excel-esports.com/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_Modeling_World_Cup https://www.reddit.com/r/excel/comments/15r53rc/why_i_unapol...

Excel is the pinnacle of user space applications. I wonder if there will ever be a tool—physical or otherwise—that has a higher combination of (utility * approachability).

Excel is used by middle-schoolers and post-doc graduates. You can run any kind of businesses in excel. You could go to space using excel. You can make art in excel. You can make a CPU in excel. You could write a book in excel (maybe that’s a stretch, but I guarantee it’s been done)

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