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I've been surprised to see many pro devs using Excel/VBA as a secondary tool. One example: a couple years ago I was working with a big hedge fund and one of th
by clausok 3y ago
I've been surprised to see many pro devs using Excel/VBA as a secondary tool.
One example: a couple years ago I was working with a big hedge fund and one of their data analysts sent me an Excel model he had built and I was tickled to see the .xlsm extension (i.e., VBA code on board).
"Ahh ha", I thought, "Let's see what these macro-recording cowboys have been up to."
There was a lot of VBA inside, all written by this Caltech comp sci data analyst who was a Python superstar. The VBA was for pulling data from a database, putting it on a sheet, building some formulas, and some pretty formatting. There were even a few userforms!
I teased him, "VBA? What else are you guys using over there? A cotton gin and a steam shovel?"
I was startled to hear him heap praise upon Excel and VBA instead of the usual complaints.
He said something that stuck with me, "Excel makes it easy to understand the dependency structure that is implied by computations. If I had done this in Python, I'd be answering questions about it all day long."
- zitterbewegung 3y agoAs I have gained experience as a developer using the right tool for the right job becomes paramount. And the lazy answer can be much better than some incomprehensible mess of ideas.
- emj 3y agoWell I agree that excel is a superb interface for many things and it helps people to understand data, to a certain degree. On the flip side; they are accustomed to the data model and when things get a bit complicated they tend to not ask questions, perhaps blaming themselves. There are things like this 3GB Excel/VBA pension forecast model from Sweden, with an 38 page user manual as well. Which does not really use Excel that well: https://www.pensionsmyndigheten.se/statistik-och-rapporter/pensionsmodellen/pensionsmodellen https://www.pensionsmyndigheten.se/statistik-och-rapporter/p...
- sancarn 3y agoVBA does have it's issues (https://sancarn.github.io/vba-articles/issues-with-vba.html https://sancarn.github.io/vba-articles/issues-with-vba.html) but it's far from the worst tool out there... E.G. PowerAutomate VB6 has a pretty big community, and https://twinbasic.com/ https://twinbasic.com/ has really helped unify VBA and VB6 communities as of late. So it might have a little of a resergence in the dev community.
- clausok 3y agoI'm always stunned to see the level of VB6 expertise that remains in the world even two decades after Microsoft left it for dead. Just look at the effort and knowhow that went into this VBA function that resolves the local file system path from the https url of workbooks synced to OneDrive/SharePoint: https://gist.github.com/guwidoe/038398b6be1b16c458365716a921814d https://gist.github.com/guwidoe/038398b6be1b16c458365716a921...
- sancarn 3y agoCertainly! If you're ever interested in seeing some awesome VBA stuff I have a big list here: https://github.com/sancarn/awesome-vba https://github.com/sancarn/awesome-vba Lots of awesome stuff still in the VBA/VB6 community!
- teknolog 3y agoA business I run depends heavily on Google Sheets that I inject values into and read computed values out of. That lets us define rather complex business logic in spreadsheet form, and business and finance people can easily tweak it. Everybody is very happy with this solution.
- about3fitty 3y agoI ran a pre-admission (surgery) clinic at a major university hospital through Excel. VBA is powerful and quick at prototyping/iteration. I would even venture to say that VB6 was the zenith of CRUD apps