4 ms·

I don't know absolute values but Excel still has several advantages which make it faster: - Excel is written in C++ and compiled natively which will be a bit fa

I don't know absolute values but Excel still has several advantages which make it faster: - Excel is written in C++ and compiled natively which will be a bit faster than Java running on the JVM. And Java running as WasmGC is about 2x slower than Java on the JVM. - Sheets is limited to 4GB of RAM by the browser, Excel isn't. - C++ can do shared memory multi-threading, WasmGC cannot.

tomComb 2y ago
Not sure why you’re comparing the c++ Excel to the browser version of sheets. It would make more sense to compare the native version of Excel to the native versions of sheets, ie. android iOS and chromeOS, and the browser sheets to the browser excel.
- adrianmonk 2y ago
  Because they're replying to someone who wondered about the performance "compared to Native Microsoft Excel". I'll add that browser Google Sheets and native Microsoft Excel are the fastest versions available (of each product).
  - tomComb 2y ago
    Why do you suggest that the web version of sheets is faster than the swift or Java versions? I haven’t tried them, and certainly haven’t benchmarked them, but I would imagine they’re faster.
- ehsankia 2y ago
  I don't think there is a native desktop version of sheets? On ChromeOS, it's running the web version. But yes I'd be curious to see how the web version of Excel does it.
  - tomComb 2y ago
    There is a version of sheets in both App Stores and I believe you can run the android version on chrome OS
    - panzi 2y ago
      Are these versions reimplemtations or like so many other apps just packaged websites? And are they full featured?
      - ehsankia 2y ago
        AFAIK the mobile versions are different, since the whole UX is designed for touch control and small screens. It's not full featured, there's a bunch of stuff that you can't do, or are very hard to reach, but that's the limitation of mobile control. While you technically can run it on ChromeOS through the Android emulation, it's still a mobile app and you're far better off running the web version.
fyrn_ 2y ago
Not claiming it has the same performance as real shared memory, But at least rough semantics can be had: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/SharedArrayBuffer https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Refe... Can be read and written from multiple workers / main thread. Synconized with WASM atomics. Propgation speed of writes is undefined, likely to leave side channel attack mitigation options without spec-breaking.
metadat 2y ago
> Sheets is limited to 4GB of RAM by the browser, Excel isn't. Yet excel still limits the number of rows to 65536 or so.
- mfenniak 2y ago
  Since Excel 2010 that limit is 1,048,576.
  - metadat 2y ago
    The last time I tried on a Mac a few years ago, it definitely couldn't handle that many. Maybe I was holding it wrong? Even a million seems embarrassingly puny these days, considering a webpage can have a million checkboxes rendered in only a moment.
    - supriyo-biswas 2y ago
      Please leave out the snide remarks in spirit of the HN guidelines[1]. > When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names. "That is idiotic; 1 + 1 is 2, not 3" can be shortened to "1 + 1 is 2, not 3." [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
      - deleted 2y ago
        [deleted]
      - metadat 2y ago
        I appreciate your efforts to uphold quality, though I'm not sure I follow in this case. What do you take issue with?
        supriyo-biswas 2y ago
        The "holding it wrong" part of it.
fulafel 2y ago
You mean 4 GB WebAssembly limit I guess? There's no such general browser limit on JS side.
pjmlp 2y ago
You are forgetting many people use Excel on the Web nowadays, running on the same WebAssembly infrastructure as well. And Microsoft would rather push everyone to the 365 Web subscription, than keeping selling native Excel, which by the way, nowadays uses plenty of React Native code instead of pure C++, exactly because of code portability to Office 365.
- water-your-self 2y ago
  So youre saying theres a market gap for a platform native sheets app?
  - pjmlp 2y ago
    It is already covered by Android and iDevices.
  - TRiG_Ireland 2y ago
    There's always Libre Office.

tomComb 2y ago

Not sure why you’re comparing the c++ Excel to the browser version of sheets. It would make more sense to compare the native version of Excel to the native versions of sheets, ie. android iOS and chromeOS, and the browser sheets to the browser excel.

adrianmonk 2y ago
Because they're replying to someone who wondered about the performance "compared to Native Microsoft Excel". I'll add that browser Google Sheets and native Microsoft Excel are the fastest versions available (of each product).
- tomComb 2y ago
  Why do you suggest that the web version of sheets is faster than the swift or Java versions? I haven’t tried them, and certainly haven’t benchmarked them, but I would imagine they’re faster.
ehsankia 2y ago
I don't think there is a native desktop version of sheets? On ChromeOS, it's running the web version. But yes I'd be curious to see how the web version of Excel does it.
- tomComb 2y ago
  There is a version of sheets in both App Stores and I believe you can run the android version on chrome OS
  - panzi 2y ago
    Are these versions reimplemtations or like so many other apps just packaged websites? And are they full featured?
    - ehsankia 2y ago
      AFAIK the mobile versions are different, since the whole UX is designed for touch control and small screens. It's not full featured, there's a bunch of stuff that you can't do, or are very hard to reach, but that's the limitation of mobile control. While you technically can run it on ChromeOS through the Android emulation, it's still a mobile app and you're far better off running the web version.

fyrn_ 2y ago

Not claiming it has the same performance as real shared memory, But at least rough semantics can be had: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/SharedArrayBuffer https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Refe... Can be read and written from multiple workers / main thread. Synconized with WASM atomics. Propgation speed of writes is undefined, likely to leave side channel attack mitigation options without spec-breaking.

metadat 2y ago

> Sheets is limited to 4GB of RAM by the browser, Excel isn't. Yet excel still limits the number of rows to 65536 or so.

mfenniak 2y ago
Since Excel 2010 that limit is 1,048,576.
- metadat 2y ago
  The last time I tried on a Mac a few years ago, it definitely couldn't handle that many. Maybe I was holding it wrong? Even a million seems embarrassingly puny these days, considering a webpage can have a million checkboxes rendered in only a moment.
  - supriyo-biswas 2y ago
    Please leave out the snide remarks in spirit of the HN guidelines[1]. > When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names. "That is idiotic; 1 + 1 is 2, not 3" can be shortened to "1 + 1 is 2, not 3." [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
    - metadat 2y ago
      I appreciate your efforts to uphold quality, though I'm not sure I follow in this case. What do you take issue with?
      - supriyo-biswas 2y ago
        The "holding it wrong" part of it.

fulafel 2y ago

You mean 4 GB WebAssembly limit I guess? There's no such general browser limit on JS side.

pjmlp 2y ago

You are forgetting many people use Excel on the Web nowadays, running on the same WebAssembly infrastructure as well. And Microsoft would rather push everyone to the 365 Web subscription, than keeping selling native Excel, which by the way, nowadays uses plenty of React Native code instead of pure C++, exactly because of code portability to Office 365.

water-your-self 2y ago
So youre saying theres a market gap for a platform native sheets app?
- pjmlp 2y ago
  It is already covered by Android and iDevices.
- TRiG_Ireland 2y ago
  There's always Libre Office.