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I think the more usual form of that phrase is "Spreadsheets are dead, long live spreadsheets!". And that captures the truth of the situation better. Despite al

I think the more usual form of that phrase is "Spreadsheets are dead, long live spreadsheets!". And that captures the truth of the situation better. Despite all the known weaknesses of spreadsheets, it is sheer hubris to believe that they will be supplanted by reactive programming (or databases, or anything else for that matter). It seems that users will give up their spreadsheets only when they are pried from their cold, dead hands. European Spreadsheet Risks Interest Group has some great links to articles about the pros/cons/whattodo of spreadsheets: http://www.eusprig.org/ http://www.eusprig.org/ Jocelyn Ireson-Paine has done lots of work with spreadsheets and their problems. Lots of links to spreadsheet sites from there: http://www.j-paine.org/ http://www.j-paine.org/

blackbagboys 11y ago
Sorry, I can't resist indulging in a moment of pedantry here. The phrase "The king is dead, long live the king!", which this title and many others play off of, is referring to two separate individuals, the now-dead king in the first clause and his successor in the second. The phrase is representative of a theory of monarchy in which, upon the death of the sovereign, their authority passes instantaneously to their heir, without the need for a coronation or a formal investiture, in order to foreclose on the possibility of pretenders to the throne arising during an interregnum. So the correct (and I know you said 'usual and not 'correct', but bear with me) form of the phrase would be 'spreadsheets are dead, long live [whatever is succeeding spreadsheets]'. Of course, historically speaking, it was not at all uncommon for dead royals to suddenly reappear and reassert their claim to the throne....
- conceit 11y ago
  Spreadsheet software is improving here and there. Excel today is not your old lotus-1-2-3. Although you'd be hard pressed to notice.
  - discreteevent 11y ago
    Indeed. After all the phrase is not: "The king is dead. Long live the republic"
- JadeNB 11y ago
  > Sorry, I can't resist indulging in a moment of pedantry here. I've always got the impression that this is, rather than an abuse, instead an intentional re-purposing of the slogan to convey exactly the meaning that it appears to have (instead of the one that it historically should). I'm a die-hard prescriptivist on most matters; but, since the sentiment that the grandparent expressed is common and the one the the literal historical slogan expresses doesn't seem to be, it's hard to see why we should cling to the latter and avoid the former.
keithpeter 11y ago
"Quite simply, we do not think the way we think we think. Human cognition is built on complex mechanisms that inherently sacrifice some accuracy for speed. Speed in thinking was the overriding evolutionary force for our hunter ancestors, and although occasional errors caused the loss of hunters, new hunters were inexpensive and fun to make." Quote from http://arxiv.org/pdf/0802.3457v1.pdf http://arxiv.org/pdf/0802.3457v1.pdf accessed via the first of your links. Excellent quote. Thanks for these links, much interesting material.
nokome 11y ago
Thanks for the comment. "Spreadsheets are dead, long live spreadsheets!" does actually capture the intent of the article more accurately. But I used "..., long live reactive programming environments!" because I wanted to emphasise the point that spreadsheets are actually reactive programming environments. The article isn't try to suggest that the spreadsheet interface is going to be replaced. Rather is says that by combining it with a "code-based" approach we might be able to create a whole lot of benefits for testability, audit-ability and reproducibility.

blackbagboys 11y ago

Sorry, I can't resist indulging in a moment of pedantry here. The phrase "The king is dead, long live the king!", which this title and many others play off of, is referring to two separate individuals, the now-dead king in the first clause and his successor in the second. The phrase is representative of a theory of monarchy in which, upon the death of the sovereign, their authority passes instantaneously to their heir, without the need for a coronation or a formal investiture, in order to foreclose on the possibility of pretenders to the throne arising during an interregnum. So the correct (and I know you said 'usual and not 'correct', but bear with me) form of the phrase would be 'spreadsheets are dead, long live [whatever is succeeding spreadsheets]'. Of course, historically speaking, it was not at all uncommon for dead royals to suddenly reappear and reassert their claim to the throne....

conceit 11y ago
Spreadsheet software is improving here and there. Excel today is not your old lotus-1-2-3. Although you'd be hard pressed to notice.
- discreteevent 11y ago
  Indeed. After all the phrase is not: "The king is dead. Long live the republic"
JadeNB 11y ago
> Sorry, I can't resist indulging in a moment of pedantry here. I've always got the impression that this is, rather than an abuse, instead an intentional re-purposing of the slogan to convey exactly the meaning that it appears to have (instead of the one that it historically should). I'm a die-hard prescriptivist on most matters; but, since the sentiment that the grandparent expressed is common and the one the the literal historical slogan expresses doesn't seem to be, it's hard to see why we should cling to the latter and avoid the former.

keithpeter 11y ago

"Quite simply, we do not think the way we think we think. Human cognition is built on complex mechanisms that inherently sacrifice some accuracy for speed. Speed in thinking was the overriding evolutionary force for our hunter ancestors, and although occasional errors caused the loss of hunters, new hunters were inexpensive and fun to make." Quote from http://arxiv.org/pdf/0802.3457v1.pdf http://arxiv.org/pdf/0802.3457v1.pdf accessed via the first of your links. Excellent quote. Thanks for these links, much interesting material.

nokome 11y ago

Thanks for the comment. "Spreadsheets are dead, long live spreadsheets!" does actually capture the intent of the article more accurately. But I used "..., long live reactive programming environments!" because I wanted to emphasise the point that spreadsheets are actually reactive programming environments. The article isn't try to suggest that the spreadsheet interface is going to be replaced. Rather is says that by combining it with a "code-based" approach we might be able to create a whole lot of benefits for testability, audit-ability and reproducibility.