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I agree that spreadsheets count as programming, since formulas are code. But spreadsheets also add a memory model (cell references) and a UI (rows and columns),
by gruseom 13y ago
I agree that spreadsheets count as programming, since formulas are code. But spreadsheets also add a memory model (cell references) and a UI (rows and columns), and these three things are all smushed together, or rather overlap perfectly, while in general-purpose programming they are independent and there is no such overlap. That's perhaps what makes spreadsheets simpler and more accessible.
- Zigurd 13y agoSpreadsheets are accessible programming to people motivated enough to understand what happens when you have more than a simple column sum in a spreadsheet, which could be called "programming in constraints." and then that beautiful code-less, flow-less, condition-less paradise lasts only until you need a macro.