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Quote: To put the magnitude of Excel users in perspective, analysts at IDC estimate that the most popular coding language, JavaScript, is used moderately or heavily by 11.7 million software developers today. They didn't say how many Excel users there are. Is that an implicit acknowledgment that most Excel users aren't good enough coders to be considered programmers?
(And anyone who uses Excel as a database should wear a scarlet letter, or something, and be unhirable. Unless management won't allow them to purchase any DB, and won't allow MySQL or an equivalent. Then management should be the ones with the scarlet letter, and unhirable.)
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David O'Neil wrote: Is that an implicit acknowledgment that most Excel users aren't good enough coders to be considered programmers?
In my very humble opinion, there is no shame in saying this. It is undoubtedly true. Surely most Excel users are people who want to store and manipulate data; why should they be programmers.
What I do not get, however, is how or why this new language will change anything. The whole point of VBA was that it was an easy to use macro language that non-programmers could use with little additional effort. Now we have a shiny new language that non-programmers could use with little additional effort.
Was VBA not easy enough?
Are people more stupid today?
I suppose that people do increasingly expect "I want to do more, it has to be easy, it has to just work" and if ActiveFX... err I mean if PowerFX can do that more easily than VBA then so be it. I can see Microsoft's thinking in terms of basing it on Excel functions which are at least familiar to Excel users.
But I very, very strongly suspect that this will give rise to a whole new class of errors. If it succeeds in not merely displacing VBA but in opening up macro programming to a much wider range of end users then the new style of non-coding errors will make old fashioned faulty corporate and home spreadsheets look like mere typos.
David O'Neil wrote: (And anyone who uses Excel as a database should wear a scarlet letter, or something, and be unhirable. Unless management won't allow them to purchase any DB, and won't allow MySQL or an equivalent. Then management should be the ones with the scarlet letter, and unhirable.)
Isn't this a "getting things done expediently" and "getting things done with minimal or no budget requirement" issue. Excel has the sweet spot of the ability to store data coupled with a useable UI (which is configurable with quickly learnable skills). In contrast, making a database that useful requires a lot more work to get to the same spot.
I fully accept and agree that, beyond a certain point of complexity, moving to a database is important but at that point it's going to require either skills that the end user doesn't have, time that the end user doesn't have, or a not-insignificant budget approval. Real life (both at home and in business) means that the spreadsheets often soldier on.
I can see how Microsoft might be thinking that PowerFX will in part address this situation. Bolting on PowerFX as a programmable front end to Access (alongside VBA, not instead of it) might help migration to an extent.
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markrlondon wrote: making a database that useful requires a lot more work to get to the same spot. Part of me disagrees with this statement, and part of me agrees. To make it easier, use Access which many frown upon. By the time you've done that work, the DB approach is far easier to get more information from than Excel is, in my opinion. And you can take it to a better DB from there. Once you know the tool, you know why to use a DB in the first place.
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markrlondon wrote: Are people more stupid today? Have you visited the Q&A lately?
M.D.V.
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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Hah, quite. I was looking at that and I can't believe people ask questions like that where it's clear they haven't made any effort themselves.
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Kent Sharkey wrote: hat’s based on Microsoft Excel.
Didn't you post something a week ago or so about Google doing a low-code thing in their spreadsheet? Yeah, "AppSheet". Of course Microsoft is the copycat.
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Came across this today. It is a better response.
(It is just a laugh. If Excel brings you into programming, great!)
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Microsoft's updated set of Azure mixed-reality services will work with virtual-reality, and later, holoportation, scenarios across devices. Because we all deserve a better reality
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Kent Sharkey wrote: Because we all deserve a better reality And are you sure you want Microsoft developing it?
M.D.V.
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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Ooof. Good point.
TTFN - Kent
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Cyberattackers have turned to search engine optimization (SEO) techniques to deploy malware payloads to as many victims as possible. That's considerate of them, isn't it?
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Windows 10 users can harness the power of low-code RPA by downloading Power Automate Desktop on March 2, and it will be included in Windows Insider Preview builds in the coming weeks. And remember: with great Power Automate Desktop comes great Responsibility Automate Desktop
Now taking bets on when it gets used to hack machines... By end of week or end of month?
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Later today probably.
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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We hope you enjoy the new features highlighted from some of teams such as C++, .NET Productivity, Address Sanitizer, XAML Tooling, and IntelliCode teams. "You could blow with this, or you could blow with that"
It's going to be a little obvious there's a Microsoft conference going on today.
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The .NET Upgrade Assistant is a .NET global command-line tool that gives you a guided experience for incrementally upgrading your applications. "It'll do magic believe it or not. Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo."
Pity for all the Wizards out of work these days.
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Quote: Update C# source. Now that all your projects have been upgraded to .NET 5 and references upgraded when the tool could help, it’s time to make some specific fixes to the C# code. Right now, the tool offers a set of ASP.NET analyzers, which will apply fixes for known patterns that where in .NET Framework that have .NET 5 equivalents. You can pick and choose the analyzers you want to run on your code or run all of them to catch any usages of older .NET Framework patterns. Some examples for ASP.NET include:
- Apply fix for AM0001: ASP.NET Core projects should not reference ASP.NET namespaces
- Apply fix for AM0002: HtmlString types should be replaced with Microsoft.AspNetCore.Html.HtmlString
- Apply fix for AM0003: ActionResult types should come from the Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc namespace
Reporting "I have no idea how to fix this problem" to the the first bullet point here was the biggest reason I rolled my eyes at MS's previous tool as being a useless joke.
Although I'm not working on it anymore, I'm going to have to find a bit of my own time to try running the .netframework web app I used to support through the new tool and see if it actually does enough to make planning an upgrade plausible.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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Tattoos are usually considered a form of personal expression, but a team of researchers in Europe have created what they’re calling the world’s first light-emitting tattoo based on OLED screen technology that, besides presumably looking kind of cool, could also serve as a visible warning about potential health concerns. "And I just love your flashy ways"
edit: added the missing quote from the article
modified 1-Mar-21 16:44pm.
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The important question: How much does it cost to have it removed?
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I don't like tattoos but a flashing neon tattoo? That's so cyber, I want many.
GCS d--(d+) s-/++ a C++++ U+++ P- L+@ E-- W++ N+ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t+ 5? X R+++ tv-- b+(+++) DI+++ D++ G e++ h--- r+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
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No picture of an actual tattoo. Color me disappointed.
I’ve given up trying to be calm. However, I am open to feeling slightly less agitated.
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Gizmodo Scientists have invented light-up OLED tattoos stickers with delusions of grandeur
FTFY
If you're older than about 15 (and I'm being really charitable here); temporary tattoos aren't.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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Well, following my mind where it always goes (given the slightest excuse or making up one of its own):
These could be found as very useful should a more experienced girlfriend be in the dark with her currently virginal boyfriend. You know - sort of like landing strip guides, maybe a little messaging like "IT'S OVER HERE !". You can see what I mean (in your minds eye, at least).
And note that in our current world of the young who's entire social life seems to be via a tiny hand-held device, this is now idle concept !
Ravings en masse^ |
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"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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The claims for Avida — a software program that is supposed to “evolve” solutions via neo-Darwinian evolution — fail the most basic test Because it's not even intelligently designed?
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Maybe it has to run for a million years.
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