Spreadsheets as Functional Languages
In some sense each cell may be thought of as an agent that monitors its depended-upon cells and updates itself when it needs to. Spreadsheets eliminate [the barrier of learning flow-control constructs] to end-user programming by dispensing with the need for control constructs, replacing them with functional constructs.
[source…]
Very interesting point-of-view shift… a state-machine has the (S) state [to indicate the start], but a spreadsheet does not. Why does a program need a start state, or a beginning? (public static void main( String[] args ) { /* ... */ }) The linked article is correct- flow control structures and state-management are difficult to grasp, it’s only when you throw in if-else / try-catch-finally that things get tricky.
(descriptions of my latest Mexico adventure is in the works, but since it’s longer, it’s taking me longer to pull it all together)
21:36 CST | category / entries / links
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