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Really cool. I could see MS jumping on this because of their strong association with C#. That said, I think the ideal replacement for VB & VBA in most contexts
by mcdonje 4y ago
Really cool. I could see MS jumping on this because of their strong association with C#.
That said, I think the ideal replacement for VB & VBA in most contexts is python. The reason is they're both high level languages with ease of learning as a selling point. Python has a massive userbase, and there is significant overlap of python and MS Office tools. Data analysts who have to deal with Excel & SQL Server are much more likely to know python than any other language outside of SQL.
It seems like python has pretty much locked up the spaces that VB was designed for.
- kab0b 4y agoI thought I remember hearing like 4 or 5 years ago that MS was planning on replacing VBA with Python Support in Office apps. But I can't find anything to back that up, so maybe I just had a really wishful dream.
- mcdonje 4y agoThey might have some involvement in python libraries or tooling to interact with excel files from python apps, but the default programming support within excel is still VBA. They did add a javascript API, but getting that up and running is a job geared more for a dev than a data analyst. What I think they should do is not just make a python API, but replace VBA with it, and expose it to end users where VBA is currently exposed. Python should be the language of macros and user defined functions.
- raarts 4y agoI tried to find info on how to set that up a while ago, but found nothing. The Microsoft pages gave me the impression it only works for the web version. Akso I'm on MacOS - couldn't find any mention of that either.
- kevin_thibedeau 4y agoThey should dust off Windows Scripting Host and use that as the nexus for Office app scripting.