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I don't know how good most geneticists are at Excel, it just seems to be the wrong tool for the job.
by windows_tips 8y ago
I don't know how good most geneticists are at Excel, it just seems to be the wrong tool for the job.
- michaericalribo 8y agoUnfortunately, in academia the only correct answer to the question, ‘what is the right tool for the job?’ is the question, ‘what does your adviser use?’ Excel is not the optimal tool—I agree. But, it’s the tool (many) geneticists use, and it’s important to find a way to make it work /better/ for the purposes it is /being used for/, rather than taking up space complaining that it’s /not the right tool/.
- jhbadger 8y agoUnfortunately Microsoft Office is pretty much the software bench biologists use. Excel for data files, Word for papers, and Powerpoint for presentations. Bioinformaticans may use R for analysis and LaTeX for papers and presentations, but these are seen as needlessly "nerdy" by bench types.
- windows_tips 8y agoIs Excel open source? Sure, I could maybe write some VBA scripts to help Excel do something better (and have) or put in some feature requests in their issue tracker (is there a public one?), but I really don't get the attitude that "taking up space complaining" is something to be avoided.