for what excel is intended to do - the current formula language is actually perfect - I wouldnt trade it for anything else (being someone who does a lot of work in excel - but also spends plenty of time hacking python & js) - if you really want to do more powerful stuff - you have macros and the like. Theres also Datanitro and other plugins you can add in. Also - if you really just care about using the data in the sheet - just read it into a simple python script and manipulate away. Dont fix something that isn't broken, I say.
Comments
for what excel is intended to do - the current formula language is actually perfect - I wouldnt trade it for anything else (being someone who does a lot of work in excel - but also spends plenty of time hacking python & js) - if you really want to do more powerful stuff - you have macros and the like. Theres also Datanitro and other plugins you can add in. Also - if you really just care about using the data in the sheet - just read it into a simple python script and manipulate away. Dont fix something that isn't broken, I say.
Wow, never heard of datanitro, thanks for the tip. Something like this but in ruby?
but what if excel didn't exist, and you were writing it today... would you invent something more like formula language or something like Forth?