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Comment on Show HN: Gridmaster – A Code School for Learning Spreadsheetsparent

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A big difference compared to programing is that you can't really define functions and objects, so a big win in readability comes from learning the common idioms and applying them consistently (e.g., index match).

Then learning to think in units of tables (RDB theory is actually great for this) helps a lot for modularity. Once you have that, basic discipline in color-coding inputs vs. links vs. outputs and using proper headlines and comments (write them in an adjacent cell, not in the pop-up) will get you really far.

Then if you really need to be crystal clear, you can obsess about having all the inputs to a formula be in one screens worth, using good named ranges (periods are valid characters!), tables, etc.

While I'm at it, I should mention my personal pet peeve: blocks of cells where all the formulas are the same except a random handled it ed one 4 rows down. The next time you edit that formula you can be sure you're going to clobber that hard-coded adjustment.

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