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I've been thinking about trying to create my own open source spreadsheet. I can't decide if they're simple or complicated. The simple view is that all you need
by Buttons840 6y ago
I've been thinking about trying to create my own open source spreadsheet. I can't decide if they're simple or complicated.
The simple view is that all you need is: (1) One main UI component, "the cell" (2) a domain specific formula / programming language (3) the underlying reactive system that tracks cell dependencies and updates them, etc.
- munchbunny 6y agoI think it depends on what you intend for it to be used for. The reductionist view of it is that it's a workspace for crunching numbers. But in practice, Excel is sometimes used like a frontend for a database engine, with sometimes heavy scripting to integrate into software processes and workflows. I think Excel's ability to stretch beyond what anybody would still reasonably consider the scope of "spreadsheet software" is why Excel is as entrenched as it is. I don't think many programmers see it as a safe or ideal way of handling the kinds of workloads that people use it for, but I think we all acknowledge its unmatched ability to let non-programmers automate data crunching.
- airstrike 6y agoWell, you can """Write your own Excel in 100 lines of F#""": http://tomasp.net/blog/2018/write-your-own-excel/# http://tomasp.net/blog/2018/write-your-own-excel/# Posted here but didn't get traction: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24980325 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24980325