Re:Show HN: Turn an Excel file into a web application
by plafl on Tuesday May 21, 2019 @12:09PM
(#19971518)
My first job consisted in updating Visual Basic code behind an Excel file that specified the hydraulic circuit for an aircraft. It was a simplified version of the circuit for use in a simulation that was used to calculate pressure loss based on several valve and pipes parameters. The results were exported to a txt file to be loaded by the simulator.
Also in the same project I remember another Excel file with mechanical calculations that actually updated a nice graphic that simulated all the linkages and different extensions of the actuators and computed forces at different points. The unholy alliance of elegant Lagrangian mechanics with Visual Basic.
I hope to never touch Basic again but it was a valuable lesson about getting things done and I'm glad I took it so early in my career.
Programmers underestimate and put down excel all the time, but I think it's actually how many projects they end up with get started.
Someone had a problem, solved it for themselves using excel, got noticed, expanded the solution to other problems until the excel solution itself became the problem and then... it ends up as a project for you.
There's nothing wrong with that. It does the job, and it's not like the first course of action when there's a problem should be to assemble a scrum team with a cast of characters like a sitcom, and blow a million dollars to implement a bespoke software solution. Sometimes excel is just enough (and then some).