Microsoft Excel Becomes a Programming Language

I read this article when it was first published last weekend... and I'm a believer that Excel Lambda and JS/TS integration are a very beneficial tool for the right reason.

Excel is now just another front end. But it's a powerful front end. One can build typescript/js packages that in turn can be used by server apps/web clients/react native clients/jupyter clients/etc. - and now Excel clients.

I can see building solutions for 'self-service of data to power users/knowledge workers' - that makes those front ends in Excel more powerful. A couple of scenarios pop out to me:

- Using a query tool over data to populate an existing (pre-formatted) Excel template with data. - Using a query tool over data that helps set user define data for lookup/pivot tables.

Not revolutionary but certainly evolutionary - where Excel can be a tool for working on a less commoditized stack.

I'd probably be happier if it was easier to check in a spreadsheet to a repo and be able to see the changes...