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Comment by compiler-guy | Hacker News Reader

It is far easier to work your way into programming via spreadsheets than via sql.

One day you are writing ‘sum(a2:a201)’ the next you do some conditional formatting and so the complexity builds up very slowly with your needs.

With sql, day one:

‘SELECT SUM(Column) AS Total FROM Table;‘

Way more complicated. Way more powerful too, but most people don’t need the power until much later.

And you have to work in the console which is an unfamiliar ui for many.

It’s not impossible, but very high overhead in comparison.

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Google Sheets has the =QUERY() function which does some very limited SQL.

That's not true, you can use Airtable to get the ease of use of a spreadsheet with the robustness of a database.

And now you have two problems. It’s not just SQL that you have to learn, but airtable. Which probably isn’t installed anywhere.

Not true. You can't use SQL in Airtable even if you want to, it just doesn't support it. Also, Airtable is SaaS, you can't install it.

s/install/somehow obtain access/

Doesn’t really change the point.

As of this writing, there are twenty-two comments on this thread about airtable. All but four are either you or responding to you bringing it up.

I think it’s fair to say that whatever its advantages may be, it is relatively unknown, and therefore a higher-overhead entree into programming than straight up spreadsheets.

Just learning about it or finding fit for purpose takes more time than diving into a spreadsheet. And as always the argument is not that spreadsheets are more powerful or better, but that they are much easier and more incremental to learn and start with.

You are absolutely right and it makes sense to start with a spreadsheet. As I said elsewhere, you have to reach a pain threshold in order to look for alternatives to Excel. And how soon you reach the pain threshold depends on how big your data is and how many users are trying to modify the same data at the same time.

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