4 ms·

> Excel offers the ability to name any cell or range of cells Except almost nobody does. It's not intuitive or the way it's taught. > Lots of Python programme

> Excel offers the ability to name any cell or range of cells Except almost nobody does. It's not intuitive or the way it's taught. > Lots of Python programmers don't use comments or descriptive variable names either. You have to have variable names in Python. If you want to give them shitty names, that's your bag, but unlike Excel, it's not an extra step. You also have to deal with the fact that every cell in a range has its own unique formula. It's like you have a special function for each and every cell. You have nice conveniences for it like copy/ paste and dragging, but ultimately you are copying formulas all over the place. And it's super easy to update all but one of those when you make a change. Yes, you can create custom functions, but much like named ranges, it's not the default behavior, takes extra steps, and it isn't the way Excel is taught. Spreadsheets are amazing for small to moderately complex things, but beyond a certain point, they are just an unmanageable mess regardless of who creates them.

listenallyall 6y ago
Interesting, my comment was solely in response to your complaint about naming convention... you've expanded your criticism quite a bit. I already anticipated your issue with naming being that few people used named cells/ranges -- again, it's not even in a menu or ribbon, it's present at all times, what else do you want? Not "the way it's taught"? Well, blame your teacher. > You have to have variable names in Python sure, but `(i, j, k)` isn't any more descriptive than A1 or B7 or CQ85759. `intOrderTotal` may seem better initially, until the summer intern creates `intOrderFinalTotal` (after tax) and `intOrderAllInFinalTotal` (after shipping and tax) > every cell in a range has its own unique formula you could use array formulas, or were you never taught those either? > it's not the default behavior, takes extra steps, Creating a Python virtual environment is not the default behavior, and it takes extra steps. So does using any packages beyond the standard library. So does source control. Or running Jupyter. Using classes, or type hints, or imports, are all not the "default" of one long script in a single file. Excel isn't superior to Python, or the best tool to solve every type of problem. Excel has its place, Python has its place. But your specific little nitpicks here are a reflection of the user (who I presume is you) not on the tool itself.
- etothepii 6y ago
  If the code was stored in source control with a separation between dev and production the intern might be able to raise such a Pull Request but it would never get approved without oversight from someone more senior. This Code Review process is almost completely impossible in Excel.
  - pjmlp 6y ago
    That is a big if. Office has source control management via SharePoint integration.
    - zentiggr 6y ago
      ... and then you have two problems. I have never seen an environment converted to SharePoint that didn't suffer badly from the conversion. And the Excel vs <other language> source control issue isn't history, it's "go ahead and try to diff between two versions of an Excel sheet" vs "diff two versions of that source file". Unless I've never heard of the tool that can digest two Excel sheets and tell you what formulas differ, or cells. Please correct me, anyone who knows of one.
      - pjmlp 6y ago
        https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/overview-of-spreadsheet-compare-13fafa61-62aa-451b-8674-242ce5f2c986?ocmsassetid=ha103516135&assetid=ha103516135&correlationid=b05c49f6-658b-43d0-ac33-4e38230c83b5&ui=en-us&rs=en-us&ad=us https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/overview-of-sprea...
        zentiggr 6y ago
        Late response over the holidays, but honestly thank you. In years of Excel usage, I've never stumbled on that or had anyone mention it. I will look into that as Excel 2016 is one of my current required work apps.
    - etothepii 6y ago

listenallyall 6y ago

Interesting, my comment was solely in response to your complaint about naming convention... you've expanded your criticism quite a bit. I already anticipated your issue with naming being that few people used named cells/ranges -- again, it's not even in a menu or ribbon, it's present at all times, what else do you want? Not "the way it's taught"? Well, blame your teacher. > You have to have variable names in Python sure, but `(i, j, k)` isn't any more descriptive than A1 or B7 or CQ85759. `intOrderTotal` may seem better initially, until the summer intern creates `intOrderFinalTotal` (after tax) and `intOrderAllInFinalTotal` (after shipping and tax) > every cell in a range has its own unique formula you could use array formulas, or were you never taught those either? > it's not the default behavior, takes extra steps, Creating a Python virtual environment is not the default behavior, and it takes extra steps. So does using any packages beyond the standard library. So does source control. Or running Jupyter. Using classes, or type hints, or imports, are all not the "default" of one long script in a single file. Excel isn't superior to Python, or the best tool to solve every type of problem. Excel has its place, Python has its place. But your specific little nitpicks here are a reflection of the user (who I presume is you) not on the tool itself.

etothepii 6y ago
If the code was stored in source control with a separation between dev and production the intern might be able to raise such a Pull Request but it would never get approved without oversight from someone more senior. This Code Review process is almost completely impossible in Excel.
- pjmlp 6y ago
  That is a big if. Office has source control management via SharePoint integration.
  - zentiggr 6y ago
    ... and then you have two problems. I have never seen an environment converted to SharePoint that didn't suffer badly from the conversion. And the Excel vs <other language> source control issue isn't history, it's "go ahead and try to diff between two versions of an Excel sheet" vs "diff two versions of that source file". Unless I've never heard of the tool that can digest two Excel sheets and tell you what formulas differ, or cells. Please correct me, anyone who knows of one.
    - pjmlp 6y ago
      https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/overview-of-spreadsheet-compare-13fafa61-62aa-451b-8674-242ce5f2c986?ocmsassetid=ha103516135&assetid=ha103516135&correlationid=b05c49f6-658b-43d0-ac33-4e38230c83b5&ui=en-us&rs=en-us&ad=us https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/overview-of-sprea...
      - zentiggr 6y ago
        Late response over the holidays, but honestly thank you. In years of Excel usage, I've never stumbled on that or had anyone mention it. I will look into that as Excel 2016 is one of my current required work apps.
  - etothepii 6y ago