5 ms·

Honestly, excel is so hard to use once the scale reaches a few hundred million that I was forced to build my own drastically scaled down version in order to sup

Honestly, excel is so hard to use once the scale reaches a few hundred million that I was forced to build my own drastically scaled down version in order to support my data analysis. It's an interesting project, and the source code isn't too lengthy to get a reasonable amount of functionality. I support a bunch of basic mathematic functions, and derived auto updating columns. I also have some ability to import and export common formats. I'd open source it but I don't want to open source my befunge interpretter which is essential to running my business.

ghostly_s 10y ago
Is this a late April Fools' joke? Your compiler for an esoteric programming language; "the design goal [for which] was to create a language which was difficult to compile"[1], is business-critical? 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Befunge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Befunge
- cwyers 10y ago
  Not just business-critical, apparently it's a competitive advantage, such that he wants others to not be able to take advantage of it.
- nickpeterson 10y ago
  The goal is to reduce everything. Complexity is uncertainty, at some point we all throw up our hands and let the chips fall. Every modern language compiles down to insane amounts of code. There is simply no way it's all correct, even at the compiler level. The legion of developers looking into it doesn't give me comfort either, because the size means it has to be partitioned at some point. Competitive edges are essential in the modern information economy. This Bowling Alley succeeds or fails based on my own wits.
jethro_tell 10y ago
I mean, why not a relational database and some python or something instead of a custom program?
- systems 10y ago
  A lot my excel use cases are Pivot tables that connect directly to SSAS excel is a client for the database, a very advanced client
  - nickpeterson 10y ago
    Very true. Sometimes I think Microsoft really shoots themselves in the foot by not rapidly improving the performance of excel (GPU support would be killer). I really think many of the upstarts like Tableau would be completely sidelined by a higher performance excel with a few other features. I think to some degree the existence of PowerBI is basically Microsoft acknowledging they cannot iterate Excel fast enough to compete and thus need a fresh start. That said, I find it's one of the tools I miss the most when not on Windows.

ghostly_s 10y ago

Is this a late April Fools' joke? Your compiler for an esoteric programming language; "the design goal [for which] was to create a language which was difficult to compile"[1], is business-critical? 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Befunge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Befunge

cwyers 10y ago
Not just business-critical, apparently it's a competitive advantage, such that he wants others to not be able to take advantage of it.
nickpeterson 10y ago
The goal is to reduce everything. Complexity is uncertainty, at some point we all throw up our hands and let the chips fall. Every modern language compiles down to insane amounts of code. There is simply no way it's all correct, even at the compiler level. The legion of developers looking into it doesn't give me comfort either, because the size means it has to be partitioned at some point. Competitive edges are essential in the modern information economy. This Bowling Alley succeeds or fails based on my own wits.

jethro_tell 10y ago

I mean, why not a relational database and some python or something instead of a custom program?

systems 10y ago
A lot my excel use cases are Pivot tables that connect directly to SSAS excel is a client for the database, a very advanced client
- nickpeterson 10y ago
  Very true. Sometimes I think Microsoft really shoots themselves in the foot by not rapidly improving the performance of excel (GPU support would be killer). I really think many of the upstarts like Tableau would be completely sidelined by a higher performance excel with a few other features. I think to some degree the existence of PowerBI is basically Microsoft acknowledging they cannot iterate Excel fast enough to compete and thus need a fresh start. That said, I find it's one of the tools I miss the most when not on Windows.