3 ms·

How much difference is there between =IF(A1 > A2, (B2 + B3), (C2 - C3)) and (if (> aye-one aye-two) (+ bee-two bee-three) (- cee-two cee-three)) Inf

by shagie 2y ago

How much difference is there between =IF(A1 > A2, (B2 + B3), (C2 - C3)) and (if (> aye-one aye-two) (+ bee-two bee-three) (- cee-two cee-three)) Infix vs prefix, coordinates vs variable names. It is syntax on top of the essence of a functional programming language. And it has the same things. One liner of perl, python, or powershell - anyone can write it and it doesn't take too much to manage its complexity. However, once you get into more complex relationships between data and structures, it takes discipline to manage it. Spreadsheets often are poor at giving you the tools to manage it and so it takes more effort to make sure that you're not making a mess. A complex spreadsheet is a complex program that needs to have someone who has the discipline and abstractions necessary to manage it.

deleted 2y ago
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maxerickson 2y ago
With the Excel Lambda, you can add a layer of indirection and do something like that by passing the values into your function rather than building your function strictly out of cell references.
- shagie 2y ago
  Yep - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/lambda-the-ultimatae-excel-worksheet-function/ https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/lambda-the-ult... The point was more one of "Excel is an IDE for a functional language." Doing large projects in Excel should take as much care / design / thought as large projects in Lisp (or any other language). That Excel is everywhere and people often do simple things that grow large without having the discipline of managing the complexity that excel can become - that's where there's problems. Rather if you say to someone with enough skill to get started "here's python, good luck" you'll get similar results as "here's Excel, good luck." Just that you'll have an easier time persuading cooperate IT to install Excel on your machine compared to Python.

by shagie 2y ago

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

maxerickson 2y ago

With the Excel Lambda, you can add a layer of indirection and do something like that by passing the values into your function rather than building your function strictly out of cell references.

shagie 2y ago
Yep - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/lambda-the-ultimatae-excel-worksheet-function/ https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/lambda-the-ult... The point was more one of "Excel is an IDE for a functional language." Doing large projects in Excel should take as much care / design / thought as large projects in Lisp (or any other language). That Excel is everywhere and people often do simple things that grow large without having the discipline of managing the complexity that excel can become - that's where there's problems. Rather if you say to someone with enough skill to get started "here's python, good luck" you'll get similar results as "here's Excel, good luck." Just that you'll have an easier time persuading cooperate IT to install Excel on your machine compared to Python.