Google and LibreOffice both have similar functionality. (not VB, but they have built in scripting tools) On Thu, Nov 2, 2017 at 8:03 AM, wrote: > > How would this be different from using Visual Basic for Applications > (VBA). It has literally been 20 years since I used VBA, however I seem to > recall that the VBA was built in and internal so one would not need to use > external resources to do the VBA automation. > > > > On 2017-11-02 01:51, trent shipley wrote: > > Dear PLUG list, > > I've been working on a think-piece about a programmable spreadsheet > product and project. It runs 29 pages. I'm going to try to find a way to > put the "proposal" on the internet. > > However, I've included the introduction and conclusion below, and I'd be > interested in people's thoughts, especially Joseph Sinclair's or anyone in > academia. I'd also very much like to know if anyone knows if anything like > this exists or existed. > > Note that I'm not proposing using something like VBA or Python. I am > proposing that spreadsheets themselves be programmable without leaving the > spreadsheet environment or paradigm. > > The long paper should be ready to put on the internet in a week or two. > I'd be interested in any thoughts about how to do that too. > > Regards, > > Trent > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > Scriptsheets: A Spreadsheet You Can Program from the Sheet Environment > Scriptsheets v0e0r0b0. First Proposal (unstable, draft) > > Trent Shipley > trent1967.48@outlook.com > 2017-11-02 > > 1 Concept > > To program in current spreadsheets you typically use a built-in scripting > language like VBA. There are those who claim that spreadsheets are very > close to a pure functional language. Others have claimed to implement a > multi-tape Turing machine in Excel. You can ALMOST program in Excel without > resorting to VBA. > > The goal of Scriptsheets is to create a spreadsheet environment where you > can program natively from within a spreadsheet itself, without resorting to > a separate programming language and programming environment. It is expected > that Scriptsheets will be useful to scientists, engineers, and data > scientists, and even in economics and finance. However Scriptsheets will be > more complex than a typical spreadsheet product, and thus should have less > appeal ingeneral business than existing spreadsheet products. Scriptsheets > will be more powerful than existing spreadsheet products, but also harder > to use. > > 2 License1 > > Scriptsheets will have a free, open source, and minimally viral license. > > 6 Summary > > In this paper I proposed developing a spreadsheet that would be > programmable from the native spreadsheet environment, without resorting to > a more traditional language like Visual Basic for Applications or Python. > The working name for the product is Scriptsheets. The core of the > spreadsheet product's programmability would be the designated function > sheet, accompanied by the PARAMETER "function" keyword. It is expected that > an inherently programmable spreadsheet would have applications in > engineering, data science, science, economics, and finance. The added > complexity would make Scriptsheets less useful in general business > applications. > > Design of Scriptsheets would emphasize security first. The security model > would be comprehensive and fine grained. It assumes a client-server > architecture with a system administrator, application administrator, and > users, including developers. > > The core Scriptsheets product will be a functionally complete, but minimal > spreadsheet. The core product will be highly extensible, and will encourage > modularity. I proposed some critical plugins that should exist before the > v1e0 release of Scriptsheets. In this paper, the concept of virtual > workbooks were presented briefly. Virtual workbooks can exist in the > file-based workbook. Virtual workbooks can nest, and provide one way to > extend a spreadsheet beyond three dimensions. It will be possible to make > packages of file-based workbooks. Unlike other spreadsheets, Scriptsheets > will be typed. However, the dynamic type will be the default type, and will > allow Scriptsheets to behave like a typical spreadsheet. Since Scriptsheets > will be programmable, developers will be able to perform IO from the > spreadsheet itself. Scriptsheets will provide objects, likely through > prototyping. > > Scriptsheets will re-purpose as much material as possible from license > compatible spreadsheet products. Much of this essay drew on LibreOffice > Calc documentation. > > A rich native development environment will exist by the v1e0 release. > > I said that, if feasible, the development team would use a polyglot > development environment consisting of Scala, Java, C++, and C, pretty much > in that order. Since Scriptsheets' native spreadsheet programming > environment in many ways will approximate a functional programming > paradigm, I suspect it will be convenient to program much of Scriptsheets > in a typed, functional programming language like Scala. > > > --------------------------------------------------- > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: > http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss > > > --------------------------------------------------- > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: > http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss > -- A mouse trap, placed on top of your alarm clock, will prevent you from rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit the snooze button. Stephen