You can argue that spreadsheet formulas in cells are also a type of programming, including all the hierarchy you mentioned. Only in this case the hierarchy is not just the functions nested in each other, but also the cells calculating data based on other calculations in other cells.

And while I see the OP explanation on how cells are a great way to arrange data, I would argue that the existing way of programming in Excel is pretty horrible.

Anyone who have ever tried doing something slightly complex with Excel functions soon realized that it is pretty impossible to do certain things without a lot of "magic" involved. Which is why MS added the whole VBScript thing, and even Google Sheets have their JS App Script (or whatever it is called) to provide additional options to program based on data beyond the basic formulas.

It would be great to see more visual programming languages tested in an Excel like data entry environment. Some of the PLC [1] languages come to mind, or even languages like MIT Scratch.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programmable_logic_controller#...