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I disagree. For users who aren't going to make the leap to "real" programming, spreadsheets are a huge boon. Excel is the only thing many domain experts can u
by sevensor 9y ago
I disagree. For users who aren't going to make the leap to "real" programming, spreadsheets are a huge boon. Excel is the only thing many domain experts can use to turn their knowledge into a computational model. Sure, there are tons of problems compared to models implemented in general-purpose programming languages, and we love to complain about the atrocities committed in Excel, but nobody's yet managed to devise an alternative with the same low barrier to entry.
- itomato 9y agoSpreadsheets are a huge risk to everyone, especially those who haven't made the leap to "real" programming. Excel, 1-2-3, Visicalc are, taxonomically speaking, in the same class. We have a new order of tools. While they have their own inherent risks, they reflect literally decades of thinking about the risks and limitations of tools whose lineage traces back to Visicalc. Macro management and security, versioning, distributed access, multidimensionality; all are addressed in a handful of ways with Alpha, Tableau, Looker and other progressive tools. Excel, floppies, line printers; relics.
- noobhacker 9y agoI agree 100% that Excel is best for people who aren't going to make the leap#. My point is that domain experts should* make the leap to "real" programming, especially R to handle data analysis. Excel is faster to get started. But for advanced tasks, the time it takes to learn Excel / R is about the same. A big reason why people don't make the leap is because they already spent too much time becoming an Excel expert. Indeed, for young analysts with no baggage, a lot of people learn and use R instead.