Most of the trouble I've had with spreadsheets boils down to not knowing the (albeit small) language. Writing =B3/B$1*$A$1 is generally useful, don't get rid of that. Emphasize the formatting as a separate concept from the data (formatting needs its own language). Add type hinting/checking to cells & functions, but don't 'enforce'. Make plots first-class, embeddable in single cells (and mergable into larger areas). Make functions first-class, so a cell can contain a formula. Allow simple access to not just other sheets' cells/fns, but other files' cells. If you're crazy, allow access to remote files' cells/fn over HTTP. If you can define a sane JS FFI, you could import js libraries remotely. It blurs into web development, but what doesn't?
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Most of the trouble I've had with spreadsheets boils down to not knowing the (albeit small) language. Writing =B3/B$1*$A$1 is generally useful, don't get rid of that. Emphasize the formatting as a separate concept from the data (formatting needs its own language). Add type hinting/checking to cells & functions, but don't 'enforce'. Make plots first-class, embeddable in single cells (and mergable into larger areas). Make functions first-class, so a cell can contain a formula. Allow simple access to not just other sheets' cells/fns, but other files' cells. If you're crazy, allow access to remote files' cells/fn over HTTP. If you can define a sane JS FFI, you could import js libraries remotely. It blurs into web development, but what doesn't?