I was compelled to explain in a large training session that Excel and MathCAD are not, Not, NOT acceptable tools for performing QL-1 nuclear safety calculations.
I absolutely hate that I have to keep explaining this to degreed engineers doing safety-critical work.
This just makes me want to cry.
Excel is suitable only for tasks less important than Girl Scout cookie sales tracking. Do not bet anything more valuable than a box of Thin Mints on Excel.
@arclight
Excel is not a spreadsheet. Excel is a full-featured virtual machine running a smalltalk-inspired REPL whose display layer happens to resemble a spreadsheet.
Something like a third of the world’s money goes through Excel every single day, and the reason you don’t think Excel is a Real Programming Language is because if we admitted that, we’d have to admit that most of the most important software in the world was written by underpaid women in pink collar jobs, and we can’t have that.
@arclight my guy, you just referred to excel as a child’s toy only suitable for tasks less important than girl guide cookie sales and then referred me to your wife as the family excel expert.
Just tell her how little you think of her, don’t involve me in this.
@mhoye I think you're really misunderstanding what I'm saying and that we're probably in furious agreement.
My wife works in emergency management and is regularly called on for complex Excel tasks. She is _literally_ the Excel expert in the household.
It's not that I consider Excel a toy, I consider it a tool used far outside of its intended scope of use by people who are not treated as programmers, not given adequate training or tools for their work. That's a problem.
Arclight
mhoye
Chris Demwell
MrShoggoth