4 ms·

Spreadsheets are dreams

37 points by akkartik 11y ago

digi_owl 11y ago
Ever so often i think it would be interesting to see something akin to a spreadsheet for full on programming, that would display the state of every variable and constant much like a spreadsheet shows the result of the formula within. I guess it could be compared to the "blinkenlights" of old mainframes and minis, showing the state of various CPU registers etc.
- arethuza 11y ago
  The "watches" feature of most debuggers give you something like that. Having said that, debuggers don't give you the ability to graphical visualize dependencies between formulas/expressions that Excel does.
- lifeisstillgood 11y ago
  That's a really nice idea - fancy a deep dive into say python pdb?
- adrianN 11y ago
  You might enjoy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Befunge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Befunge
- david927 11y ago
  Check out Kayia: https://vimeo.com/107069470 https://vimeo.com/107069470
- kwhitefoot 11y ago
  Most debuggers are useless at showing what you want to see. VB.net is missing one of the really useful features of VB6 and that is the ability to stop when a variable changed value.
- rzzzt 11y ago
  In this presentation, Felienne Hermans makes the point that spreadsheets themselves are already a programming platform with a wide audience, all that is lacking is tools for "compile-time" validation, refactoring and testing: https://vimeo.com/145492419 https://vimeo.com/145492419
- FigmentEngine 11y ago
  Fowler called this illustrative programming http://martinfowler.com/bliki/IllustrativeProgramming.html http://martinfowler.com/bliki/IllustrativeProgramming.html
walterbell 11y ago
Treesheets (open-source for Mac, Windows, Linux) extends the spreadsheet user experience to general data organization, http://www.treesheets.com http://www.treesheets.com
jessaustin 11y ago
Bacon used sand to add texture to a painting of Van Gogh. This threw me for a loop. I suppose adding "Francis" wouldn't have helped much, but when I see the single name I think of the philosopher, scientist, Attorney General, and Lord Chancellor (who died long before Van Gogh lived), not the painter.
newscracker 11y ago
Off topic Is it a new trend on medium.com to use grainy GIFs with "shivering gaudy text" (text in gaudy colors moving back and forth with a grainy image in the background)? I noticed a similar usage in another article a week or so ago. Apart from looking really terrible (IMO), it would be useful to put a seizure trigger warning before such images are even shown.
- walterbell 11y ago
  Yes, this is troubling. If live experiments are going to be run on readers, it would be safer to have live sensors hooked up to the readers, rather than broadcasting to thousands of anonymous viewers.

37 points by akkartik 11y ago

Ever so often i think it would be interesting to see something akin to a spreadsheet for full on programming, that would display the state of every variable and constant much like a spreadsheet shows the result of the formula within. I guess it could be compared to the "blinkenlights" of old mainframes and minis, showing the state of various CPU registers etc.

arethuza 11y ago
The "watches" feature of most debuggers give you something like that. Having said that, debuggers don't give you the ability to graphical visualize dependencies between formulas/expressions that Excel does.
lifeisstillgood 11y ago
That's a really nice idea - fancy a deep dive into say python pdb?
adrianN 11y ago
You might enjoy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Befunge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Befunge
david927 11y ago
Check out Kayia: https://vimeo.com/107069470 https://vimeo.com/107069470
kwhitefoot 11y ago
Most debuggers are useless at showing what you want to see. VB.net is missing one of the really useful features of VB6 and that is the ability to stop when a variable changed value.
rzzzt 11y ago
In this presentation, Felienne Hermans makes the point that spreadsheets themselves are already a programming platform with a wide audience, all that is lacking is tools for "compile-time" validation, refactoring and testing: https://vimeo.com/145492419 https://vimeo.com/145492419
FigmentEngine 11y ago
Fowler called this illustrative programming http://martinfowler.com/bliki/IllustrativeProgramming.html http://martinfowler.com/bliki/IllustrativeProgramming.html

walterbell 11y ago

Treesheets (open-source for Mac, Windows, Linux) extends the spreadsheet user experience to general data organization, http://www.treesheets.com http://www.treesheets.com

jessaustin 11y ago

Bacon used sand to add texture to a painting of Van Gogh. This threw me for a loop. I suppose adding "Francis" wouldn't have helped much, but when I see the single name I think of the philosopher, scientist, Attorney General, and Lord Chancellor (who died long before Van Gogh lived), not the painter.

newscracker 11y ago

Off topic Is it a new trend on medium.com to use grainy GIFs with "shivering gaudy text" (text in gaudy colors moving back and forth with a grainy image in the background)? I noticed a similar usage in another article a week or so ago. Apart from looking really terrible (IMO), it would be useful to put a seizure trigger warning before such images are even shown.

walterbell 11y ago
Yes, this is troubling. If live experiments are going to be run on readers, it would be safer to have live sensors hooked up to the readers, rather than broadcasting to thousands of anonymous viewers.