Yes, I think the best approach is to combine tools. But what I think is a big problem is that people stretch the practical application of tools like Excel too f

Yes, I think the best approach is to combine tools. But what I think is a big problem is that people stretch the practical application of tools like Excel too far. They insist on using Excel far beyond its practical application. Personally I never use spread sheets, other than some simple plotting. I often prefer using a simple CSV viewer instead. I find it more practical to use tools which work natively with CSV, as that is the format one will be using in Julia, Python, R or whatever programming tools you use.