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I mean... sure? There are a fair number of ways you can mitigate these issues, but the way spreadsheets are structured does not lend itself to structured/ well

I mean... sure? There are a fair number of ways you can mitigate these issues, but the way spreadsheets are structured does not lend itself to structured/ well managed code.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
DavidPeiffer 6y ago
I fully agree, things can get out of hand in spreadsheets. I've built my fair share of such spreadsheets, and as penance, I'm learning R. The thing with Excel is there's a low barrier to entry, but there are a lot of differences between a great spreadsheet and a bad one. Somewhat like a junior vs senior developer, the quality of code/spreadsheet depends on what they know, how well they can troubleshoot, and how good of a system they can imagine (to then replicate as much as possible). For example, most people are entirely unaware that Tables exist in Excel. When you want the sum of a column, rather than writing =SUM(F7:F39) and cursing when you realize you added 10 more rows and that's why the sum is not updating, you can do =SUM(tbl_Sales[SalePrice]), and when you add 10 rows, the table will automatically expand. Suddenly your formulas are somewhat self-documenting, regardless of which sheet holds tbl_Sales. Crtl+T when you've selected your data, or Insert -> Tables -> Table. You can also make named ranges, which I would say is an analog between using {a, b, c, tempVar} versus well named variables in normal programming. You can also trace dependents/precedents, showing arrows for how the data flows throughout the spreadsheet. Formula -> Trace Precedents/Dependents.
listenallyall 6y ago
> structured/ well managed code Funny comment in a Python discussion. No type enforcement, no requirement for class/object declarations, circular imports/dependencies allowed, threading/gevent/async messes, variable/class scope weakly enforced Python is great for a lot of things, but the language is not a beacon of well-managed code. Good Python programmers write nice, easy-to-follow code, just as good Excel builders create very nice, easy-to-follow spreadsheets.
quietbritishjim 6y ago
I mean... sure? I never said they did. I even specifically said I wasn't disagreeing with your overall point, in the vain hope of avoiding this redundant discussion. I was just correcting one specific inaccuracy.
- ogre_codes 6y ago
  Fair enough, my comment wasn't meant to mock yours.

I mean... sure? There are a fair number of ways you can mitigate these issues, but the way spreadsheets are structured does not lend itself to structured/ well managed code.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

DavidPeiffer 6y ago

I fully agree, things can get out of hand in spreadsheets. I've built my fair share of such spreadsheets, and as penance, I'm learning R. The thing with Excel is there's a low barrier to entry, but there are a lot of differences between a great spreadsheet and a bad one. Somewhat like a junior vs senior developer, the quality of code/spreadsheet depends on what they know, how well they can troubleshoot, and how good of a system they can imagine (to then replicate as much as possible). For example, most people are entirely unaware that Tables exist in Excel. When you want the sum of a column, rather than writing =SUM(F7:F39) and cursing when you realize you added 10 more rows and that's why the sum is not updating, you can do =SUM(tbl_Sales[SalePrice]), and when you add 10 rows, the table will automatically expand. Suddenly your formulas are somewhat self-documenting, regardless of which sheet holds tbl_Sales. Crtl+T when you've selected your data, or Insert -> Tables -> Table. You can also make named ranges, which I would say is an analog between using {a, b, c, tempVar} versus well named variables in normal programming. You can also trace dependents/precedents, showing arrows for how the data flows throughout the spreadsheet. Formula -> Trace Precedents/Dependents.

listenallyall 6y ago

> structured/ well managed code Funny comment in a Python discussion. No type enforcement, no requirement for class/object declarations, circular imports/dependencies allowed, threading/gevent/async messes, variable/class scope weakly enforced Python is great for a lot of things, but the language is not a beacon of well-managed code. Good Python programmers write nice, easy-to-follow code, just as good Excel builders create very nice, easy-to-follow spreadsheets.

quietbritishjim 6y ago

I mean... sure? I never said they did. I even specifically said I wasn't disagreeing with your overall point, in the vain hope of avoiding this redundant discussion. I was just correcting one specific inaccuracy.

ogre_codes 6y ago
Fair enough, my comment wasn't meant to mock yours.