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Does Excel have a "plugin framework" for new languages the way Jupyter does? Ideally any language (Python/Julia/R/whatever) can be added by a third party withou

Does Excel have a "plugin framework" for new languages the way Jupyter does? Ideally any language (Python/Julia/R/whatever) can be added by a third party without Microsoft's direct involvement. The plugin authors would only need to map a language or library's DataFrame mechanics to Excel's table layout. (Microsoft could even use Apache Arrow to represent the data.) I imagine there would be lots of possibilities by providing "hooks" for language designers to connect to.

cm2187 9y ago
You can pretty much already do what you want with VSTO or XLLs. However having a standard scripting language installed on everyone's machine is a all different thing. It means you can add some scripted logic in your spreadsheet, give it to someone else, and know it will run without having to install or maintain anything.
- blendo 9y ago
  This is incredibly important. When I worked at BigFinCorp, we always used vanilla Excel (VBA and ODBC to RDBMSs). So our sheets would always "just work". Python would be great in this role, but to avoid separate configuration, you'd need to ship the runtime with the spreadsheet, right? Or would this new Excel capability be built on .NET? In that case, C# (for the enterprise folks) and F# (for the bleeding edgers) would be fun, too. Bottom line, the Developer mode of Excel should support more than VBA.
PaulHoule 9y ago
In the Microsoft world scripting is often mediated through COM: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Component_Object_Model https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Component_Object_Model that is how people do stuff with VBA and Powershell and you can do it in Python with http://starship.python.net/crew/theller/comtypes/ http://starship.python.net/crew/theller/comtypes/
TazeTSchnitzel 9y ago
> Does Excel have a "plugin framework" for new languages the way Jupyter does? Ideally any language (Python/Julia/R/whatever) can be added by a third party without Microsoft's direct involvement. Could they use Microsoft's old Windows Script Host thing?

cm2187 9y ago

You can pretty much already do what you want with VSTO or XLLs. However having a standard scripting language installed on everyone's machine is a all different thing. It means you can add some scripted logic in your spreadsheet, give it to someone else, and know it will run without having to install or maintain anything.

blendo 9y ago
This is incredibly important. When I worked at BigFinCorp, we always used vanilla Excel (VBA and ODBC to RDBMSs). So our sheets would always "just work". Python would be great in this role, but to avoid separate configuration, you'd need to ship the runtime with the spreadsheet, right? Or would this new Excel capability be built on .NET? In that case, C# (for the enterprise folks) and F# (for the bleeding edgers) would be fun, too. Bottom line, the Developer mode of Excel should support more than VBA.

PaulHoule 9y ago

In the Microsoft world scripting is often mediated through COM: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Component_Object_Model https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Component_Object_Model that is how people do stuff with VBA and Powershell and you can do it in Python with http://starship.python.net/crew/theller/comtypes/ http://starship.python.net/crew/theller/comtypes/

TazeTSchnitzel 9y ago

> Does Excel have a "plugin framework" for new languages the way Jupyter does? Ideally any language (Python/Julia/R/whatever) can be added by a third party without Microsoft's direct involvement. Could they use Microsoft's old Windows Script Host thing?