4 ms·

I see it uses numerical designations for both the columns and rows allowing indexing like a 2D matrix. Nice. One of the many annoyances of Excel is the alphabet

by ssl232 2y ago

I see it uses numerical designations for both the columns and rows allowing indexing like a 2D matrix. Nice. One of the many annoyances of Excel is the alphabetic columns that make even less sense beyond 26.

tichiian 2y ago
That A1 mode is Excel "Baby-Mode", you can switch to R1C1 mode in settings. Things are far easier then, and more sane. His Excel-lence also recommends this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxBg4sMusIg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxBg4sMusIg
- falcor84 2y ago
  Baby mode?! As a full grown adult, I find the cognitive load of the base 26 arithmetic of "what column is an offset of 8 to the right of AW" to be exactly what I needed to fully forget about what I came there to do in the first place
  - epcoa 2y ago
    Baby’s lack object persistence and a formed theory of mind, seems to check out.
- mhh__ 2y ago
  Never seen anyone actually use this. The "real" answer is to use names and tables. That and generally not having data flying up down left and right.
  - steine65 2y ago
    Agreed! Hard cell references should rarely be used. Names for metadata variables (eg. Current_Month) and tables for datasets.
    - tichiian 2y ago
      Yes. But many parts of excel don't support those. E.g. conditional formatting just doesn't deal with names. Also, when you need names, it is a sign to reach for a proper programming enviroment like Delphi or Lazarus.
cyanydeez 2y ago
some of us have some logical dyslexia, so when I see a tuple of numerics, even if you say (this is the row, this is the column, this is the table), when I'm manipulating references, or finding a tuple in the dark, I easily mix up the order of the bits, because lets face it, it's arbitrary. So, while your logic makes sense, it voids humanity in a rather stark way which I suppose is fine, but it's not like I'm incapable of programming. I just have to be careful about how I name variables and use keywords in python more often than args.

by ssl232 2y ago

tichiian 2y ago

That A1 mode is Excel "Baby-Mode", you can switch to R1C1 mode in settings. Things are far easier then, and more sane. His Excel-lence also recommends this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxBg4sMusIg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxBg4sMusIg

falcor84 2y ago
Baby mode?! As a full grown adult, I find the cognitive load of the base 26 arithmetic of "what column is an offset of 8 to the right of AW" to be exactly what I needed to fully forget about what I came there to do in the first place
- epcoa 2y ago
  Baby’s lack object persistence and a formed theory of mind, seems to check out.
mhh__ 2y ago
Never seen anyone actually use this. The "real" answer is to use names and tables. That and generally not having data flying up down left and right.
- steine65 2y ago
  Agreed! Hard cell references should rarely be used. Names for metadata variables (eg. Current_Month) and tables for datasets.
  - tichiian 2y ago
    Yes. But many parts of excel don't support those. E.g. conditional formatting just doesn't deal with names. Also, when you need names, it is a sign to reach for a proper programming enviroment like Delphi or Lazarus.

cyanydeez 2y ago

some of us have some logical dyslexia, so when I see a tuple of numerics, even if you say (this is the row, this is the column, this is the table), when I'm manipulating references, or finding a tuple in the dark, I easily mix up the order of the bits, because lets face it, it's arbitrary. So, while your logic makes sense, it voids humanity in a rather stark way which I suppose is fine, but it's not like I'm incapable of programming. I just have to be careful about how I name variables and use keywords in python more often than args.