Yet another Hacker News

Adding Window Functions to a Spreadsheet

20 points reedciccio 1 hour ago 14 comments

shevy-java 1 hour ago | parent

The syntax is so archaic ... it really is anything but a thing of beauty.

    prev_balance = PREVIOUS(rec, order_by="Date").Running_Balance or 0
    prev_balance + $Amount

It's such a strange mix-up of stuff. PREVIOUS() is a macro or looks like one, right? But it is a function call assumingly. But then what's with .Running_Balance? Guess that also ties into a function. But why use different syntax for essentially the same thing? It seems rather weird to write code like that. What would the python variant be like? Or a DSL?

The syntax strangeness continues:

    rates = Rates.lookupRecords(Person=$Person, order_by="Rate_Start")
    rates.find.le($Date).Hourly_Rate

Does that really convey most easily what is wanted? It seems needlessly verbose. Why would it require both $Person and $Date? Should that not be easier to figure out in its own right? Is that efficient?

People need to remember that mentally, unless they use AI.

paulfitz 1 hour ago | parent

It is straight Python. Yes the spreadsheet habit of making functions SHOUT does look weird mixed in with Python syntax.

PREVIOUS returns a record, then .Running_Balance pulls out one field of it.

whizzter 1 hour ago | parent

What parts are Python and how does one know where the classic Spreadsheet functionality ends and Python starts ?

librasteve 57 minutes ago | parent

that’s why https://omasheet.org has its own DSL. that said it’s no doubt got some wrinkles so I’ll be reviewing all the comments on this hn post very carefully

chii 1 hour ago | parent

That's what makes it clunky. Returning a record is OK, but then a record is basically what spreadsheets are (ala, a table). Except records are named columns in a spreadsheet, and accessing it using a dot syntax looks out of place imho.

I reckon it makes more sense to return a table, and then have an index lookup in that table: e.g., index(PREVIOUS(blah_blah), column). Then you can also use an indirection to choose which column from another cell if desired.

This is how google finance in sheets returns some data (like exchange rates, iirc).

whizzter 1 hour ago | parent

I think it's an push in Spreadsheets to become more "DB-alike" for less arbitrary results (like in the problem example the article starts out with) but kind-of misguided since it's complicated to do "easy things".

The root issue is that there's almost 50 years of spreadsheet syntax to consider and not colliding with.

librasteve 53 minutes ago | parent

hmmm sigils, eh?

librasteve 1 hour ago | parent

I’m all in favour of making spreadsheets better, with code friendly formulas. Here’s one I’m working on - somewhat earlier in dev cycle than grist and while I did consider Python (and lua) for the formula DSL decided to cook up my own.

All feedback good and bad v welcome.

https://omasheet.org

WillAdams 40 minutes ago | parent

Did you consider trying pyspread?

librasteve 28 minutes ago | parent

not really … I did play with pyspread some time ago tbh i was put off by the basic UI and rather childlike website (sorry I know that’s not really fair, but I am a human). I’ll definitely take a fresh look at it now you mentioned it. curious: what are the standout features of pyspread that you like?

oh and omasheet is Rust and uses Polars so I am working with that rather than NumPy SciPy

seemaze 57 minutes ago | parent

Imagine a world where we starting teaching SQL in primary school..

librasteve 56 minutes ago | parent

I imagine a world where LLM makes languages like SQL akin to middle English (ie a specialist skill taught to graduates and up)

xeonmc 13 minutes ago | parent

or better, a Tolkienian incantation

halo 47 minutes ago | parent

I sometimes feel the world is slowly reinventing BusinessObjects