I'm familiar with this characterization. I just don't think it's representative of realistic spreadsheet programming (edit: or many existing implementations).

I'm familiar with this characterization. I just don't think it's representative of realistic spreadsheet programming (edit: or many existing implementations). Here's an excellent quote from the conclusion of a paper on the topic stating exactly this viewpoint (and they aren't even referring to macros afaict) [1]: Current spreadsheet implementations do not strictly follow any of the established conceptual models. They rather follow a teleological approach of “what the user probably intends to do”. But phrases containing the word “probably” are problematic as they do not hold for all situations. This poses a challenge for education. If limits and “critical factors” remain unnoticed or misconceived, spreadsheet quality is seriously impacted. [1] http://arxiv.org/pdf/0801.4274.pdf http://arxiv.org/pdf/0801.4274.pdf