The first rule of Microsoft Excel: Don’t tell anyone you’re good at it

Re:The first rule of Microsoft Excel: Don’t tell anyone you’... by schwartzworld on Monday October 24, 2022 @12:39PM (#33318977)

Not using a tool because people might not know the tool already is an interesting take. Learning a few extra symbols isn't as much of a bottleneck as you think. Heck, people learn to read entire new alphabets, I'm learning one right now and that's a task much harder than learning some APL glyphs.

> APL probably don't have as many modern, free and online resources as other languages.

Not as many, but that can be a good thing too. Lots of languages have tutorials, libraries and articles that use horrible practices. I write React + TypeScript for work, and it's an especially big problem.

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Re:The first rule of Microsoft Excel: Don’t tell anyone you’... by capableweb on Monday October 24, 2022 @01:12PM (#33319414)

> Not using a tool because people might not know the tool already is an interesting take

I guess it would, that's not what I said though. Most programming languages use symbols already visible and available on your keyboard without having to do anything extra. APL uses a bunch of symbols you either need to learn a new keyboard combinations to enter, or otherwise extra software you probably haven't used before unless you're a mathematician.

> I'm learning one right now and that's a task much harder than learning some APL glyphs

I agree. Learning new complex glyphs is probably easier than new complex concepts, but what's for sure is harder is learning both at the same time rather than just one.

Using a language like Python or any other mainstream language would at least make the person not have to worry so much about new symbols, but mostly just new concepts.

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