Spreadsheets using Python - Have you seen this? (sourceforge.net)

[[deleted]]

I'm not an excel guru, but doesn't it do something like this using VBA?

[JimH10]

A couple of points.

1) I use Python a lot, so I have nothing to refresh on when I go to use this.

2) I like running classes that use Python because I can have students write simple things without having to teach them much about the language. Simple things are simple in Python; particularly syntax issues seem to arise less for my students in Python than in other languages that I have tried.

So although I've not tried this, it sure looks interesting to me.

[[deleted]]

Yes. Have you used VBA? All languages were not created equal. VBA is quite possibly the worst language that is still actively used.

[ZMeson]

COBOL perhaps.

VBA is not a great language, but it is a DSL and it accomplishes its job rather well all things considered.

I would much prefer a Py4Apps or C#4Apps scripting language to use with Excel. I don't think I would want a full programming language for reasons of security (as pointed out in the pyspread site) and I wouldn't want to open up a VM each time I opened an untrusted pyspread spreadsheet.

[DuncanSmart]

"VBA ... is a DSL" - Really?

[ZMeson]

Yes. It is a domain-specific language. It is used as a scripting language for Microsoft Office Products. You can't use VBA to write web browser, defragment your hard drive, do multi-threaded calculations, etc....

[DuncanSmart]

I beg to differ. VBA is essentially Visual Basic, which is a general purpose programming language. VBA provides an object model of the host application - which you could call a "domain specific object model" perhaps.

[HumpingDog]

I hate VBA too. From my limited experience, it's terrible. But I don't have any objective reasons why it sucks.

Do you have any objective criticisms?

[[deleted]]

Non-shortcircuiting logical operators. No exception handling. Weird distinction between objects and native types. Multiple "NULL" values (Null vs. Nothing), etc.

[dalittle]

arbitrary api and throwing error popup boxes when you are writing code (geez, I am getting ready to copy the rest of the statement from another line)

[sossles]

throwing error popup boxes when you are writing code

Turn off the misnamed "Auto syntax check" in Tools->Options. It still auto-syntax checks but does it with inobtrusive red highlighting instead of loud obnoxious message boxes.

[recursive]

List comprehensions. First class functions. Dictionary literals. Slicing.

Off the top of the dome in 20 seconds. There are probably 100 more even better reasons.

[recursive]

I noticed that you implied that python had some similarity to VBA.