Growing the Graveyard of "Better Spreadsheets"
The article discusses the evolution of spreadsheets, their limitations, and introduces "scrapsheets," which aims to enhance functionality with programming capabilities. A demo is planned for LIVE 2024.
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The article discusses the evolution and challenges of spreadsheets, highlighting their historical significance and ongoing popularity due to their user-friendly design and flexibility. Despite their advantages, modern spreadsheets like Excel and Google Sheets face several issues, including the prevalence of errors, limitations in data manipulation, and a lack of advanced programming capabilities. The author proposes a new approach called "scrapsheets," which aims to address these shortcomings by introducing a real programming language, enhanced data types, and improved user interfaces. Key features of scrapsheets include the ability to handle arrays instead of scalars, a masonry layout for better organization, and asynchronous loading of data. The author expresses hope that scrapsheets will succeed where previous attempts at creating "better spreadsheets" have failed, while also acknowledging the possibility of it becoming another unsuccessful project in the realm of spreadsheet innovation. A demo of scrapsheets is planned for LIVE 2024, with the codebase expected to be shared online soon.
- Spreadsheets have evolved from early applications like VisiCalc to modern tools like Excel and Google Sheets, but they still have significant limitations.
- Common issues with spreadsheets include errors, siloed datasets, and a lack of advanced programming features.
- The proposed "scrapsheets" aims to improve spreadsheet functionality with a real programming language and better data handling.
- Key features of scrapsheets include support for arrays, a masonry layout, and asynchronous data loading.
- A demo of scrapsheets is scheduled for LIVE 2024, with plans to publish the codebase online.
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