3 ms·

The reason I think Excel sucks is that it hides the formulas behind the cells. There is no way to get good report on the mathematical MODEL written in an Excel

The reason I think Excel sucks is that it hides the formulas behind the cells. There is no way to get good report on the mathematical MODEL written in an Excel spreadsheet, far less for a group of them connected together. Or am I wrong? Is there an easy way to get a report that tells what a given spreadsheet calculates?

wombatpm 5y ago
There is an audit feature to follow calculations. My truck was to replace all equal signs with QXQ to make formulas visible and diffable
andrewlgood 5y ago
IMHO, you are not wrong. The advantage of spreadsheets is they are incredibly flexible. The disadvantage of spreadsheets is they are incredibly flexible. Over the years I have noticed a few conventions that make spreadsheets easier to read from a model perspective. - Inputs should have their own tab and ideally a name. Should also be a color-coded font (blue is popular). - A worksheet should work left to right, top to bottom. I am always frustrated when I try to work through someone else's spreadsheet and the formulas just drift across a tab rather than working in a pattern toward a conclusion/summary - Pretty print sections should be separate from the actual engine. Do the calculations in a manner that is easy to understand. Create an output tab to create the pretty report. - Flag with a bright background color when a formula changes (yellow is popular). This frequently happens when your boss asks you to create a scenario where you override a formula with a constant. I cannot tell you how many hours of my life have been lost tracking down an overridden formula. These types of conventions make spreadsheets easier to inherit from someone else. They do not change the fact that there can be a lot of calculations happening through a multi-tab that you simply cannot see the bigger picture.

3 ms·

The reason I think Excel sucks is that it hides the formulas behind the cells. There is no way to get good report on the mathematical MODEL written in an Excel

by galaxyLogic 5y ago

wombatpm 5y ago
There is an audit feature to follow calculations. My truck was to replace all equal signs with QXQ to make formulas visible and diffable
andrewlgood 5y ago
IMHO, you are not wrong. The advantage of spreadsheets is they are incredibly flexible. The disadvantage of spreadsheets is they are incredibly flexible. Over the years I have noticed a few conventions that make spreadsheets easier to read from a model perspective. - Inputs should have their own tab and ideally a name. Should also be a color-coded font (blue is popular). - A worksheet should work left to right, top to bottom. I am always frustrated when I try to work through someone else's spreadsheet and the formulas just drift across a tab rather than working in a pattern toward a conclusion/summary - Pretty print sections should be separate from the actual engine. Do the calculations in a manner that is easy to understand. Create an output tab to create the pretty report. - Flag with a bright background color when a formula changes (yellow is popular). This frequently happens when your boss asks you to create a scenario where you override a formula with a constant. I cannot tell you how many hours of my life have been lost tracking down an overridden formula. These types of conventions make spreadsheets easier to inherit from someone else. They do not change the fact that there can be a lot of calculations happening through a multi-tab that you simply cannot see the bigger picture.