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I can bundle my work in an iPython/Jupyter notebook, and if I'm feeling really frisky, I can package that in a Docker container. I expect anybody with a comput
by dymk 7y ago
I can bundle my work in an iPython/Jupyter notebook, and if I'm feeling really frisky, I can package that in a Docker container.
I expect anybody with a computer can now replicate my work, and not pay the cost of an Microsoft Excel license.
- jedberg 7y agoAfter I set up a Jupyter server and/or docker. With Excel, chances are I either have it on my computer, it is a single click download away, or I have another program already on my computer that can open it.
- dymk 7y agoI certainly don't have Excel installed on my computer. It's not even free. And it's far harder for me to install it compared to free software, like Docker or Python (for which I can just type `brew install ...`). If you own a Mac, it's already got Python installed on it.
- jedberg 7y agoIf you own a Mac then it comes with Numbers which can open Excel spreadsheets. Also: `brew cask install microsoft-office`
- _coveredInBees 7y agoThe Venn diagram of people who can spin up docker containers + Jupyter notebooks vs. people who prefer to use Excel for similar scenarios has very little overlap...
- dymk 7y agoYes, that's why the statement "Reactive programming is useful" is interesting to me, and "You should model your problems in Excel" is not. The article makes both points, and I disagree with the second. This specifically is nonsense in the article: > From there, you can calculate literally anything, and transmit not only the results of those calculations, but the actual environment itself, to anyone in the world, and expect that if they have a computer, they can replicate your results. I certainly can not expect that people I'm interested in have Excel. I don't even have Excel.