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Right, I get that... but why C? Presumably if you're using Excel you have access to the whole MSFT stack, so it just seems weird to use a Unix language when it
by arthurcolle 11y ago
Right, I get that... but why C? Presumably if you're using Excel you have access to the whole MSFT stack, so it just seems weird to use a Unix language when it seems likely that some VS/C# tool has already been built for this.
I know C/C++ works just fine on Windows, but the command-line tools on cmd.exe leave a lot to be desired.
- m_mueller 11y agoI think this might be geared at companies who want to convert Excel workflows to a POSIX based cloud solution. If you want to combine moving to the cloud (e.g. for multi-user) with reducing vendor lock-in, this makes some sense I think.
- ossreality 11y agoC is "a unix language"? wtf?
- teraflop 11y agoOne advantage that C has over most other languages is that it has a very simple and widely-supported ABI that can be embedded into virtually anything else under the sun, without additional dependencies. That's especially valuable in this case because the kinds of organizations that have lots of business logic in Excel spreadsheets are unlikely to want to switch programming languages to take advantage of a tool like this. Given that automatically-generated code is likely to be ugly no matter what language it's written in, it makes sense to target the lowest common denominator that everyone can benefit from.
- kcbanner 11y agoWhat makes C a Unix language?
- cdcarter 11y agoWell, C was designed for the purpose of writing Unix.
- Intermernet 11y agoLots of answers to this one, including "It's not really", but the most commonly cited connection would probably be Dennis Ritchie. He was half of the original Unix team, and most of the original C team. There are also cross-overs in terms of "design ethos". (complex structures should be comprised of well-composed combinations of simple structures)