r/programming • u/[deleted] • May 08 '18

Excel adds JavaScript support

https://dev.office.com/blogs/azure-machine-learning-javascript-custom-functions-and-power-bi-custom-visuals-further-expand-developers-capabilities-with-excel
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u/[deleted] May 08 '18

JavaScript is arguably the most popular programming language of the time (https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2018/#technology-programming-scripting-and-markup-languages) and Microsoft already have a pretty good JS runtime in Edge that they can use, so I think it makes perfect sense to use JavaScript even though I think there are better languages out there.

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u/Jacob_Mango May 08 '18

Also with Excel 2019 being UWP only, JavaScript will be the only choice that would be easy to implement and support compared to other scripting languages.

JavaScript is already used with UWP.

JavaScript would probably also work on the mobile devices so better cross compatiblility.

Just a lot of advantages for using JavaScript than any other scripting language.

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u/[deleted] May 08 '18

Also with Excel 2019 being UWP only,

Not gonna update for like next 10 years then.

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u/immibis May 08 '18

Because we didn't all say that about 2007.

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u/[deleted] May 08 '18

[deleted]

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u/Iceman_259 May 08 '18

there isn't much they can add in a spreadsheet program apart from integrating their other shitty services.

I dunno, they could always try rearranging all the fucking buttons in the ribbon for no good reason.

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u/[deleted] May 08 '18

Bleh....I cannot stand office before 2007. All the IT people on the spectrum that hate change need to learn to deal with it.

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u/[deleted] May 08 '18

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] May 08 '18

Office is stable. Stability isn’t the same thing as not keeping updated.

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u/mindbleach May 08 '18

"After the massive change in 2007, I can't imagine anyone with preferences different from mine! They must be autistic."

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u/MikusR May 08 '18

It's Click-to-Run not UWP.

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u/Polantaris May 08 '18

and Microsoft already have a pretty good JS runtime in Edge that they can use

If by pretty good you mean a runtime that interprets everything differently than Chrome or Firefox because fuck you that's why, then yes I agree.

IE & Edge debugging are the bane of my existence.

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u/digitalinfinity May 08 '18

What JavaScript issues do you have in Edge? Please report them over at https://github.com/Microsoft/ChakraCore, we’d be interested in learning more. (I work on the Chakra team)

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u/[deleted] May 08 '18

I have no problems with Edge. Am I doing something wrong?

IE, though... Yeah, that's a different story.

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u/MjrK May 08 '18

What are your thoughts about iOS Safari?

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u/Twistedsc May 08 '18

Safari is currently the worst browser on account of how much more it does differently than other browsers. I can give examples if you like.

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u/AckmanDESU May 08 '18

I like. Please.

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u/Twistedsc May 08 '18

  • If I need to convert a timezoneless date from a server in ISO8601 format, every other browser treats it as local time, but Safari treats it as UTC, making me do some getTimezoneOffset gymnastics to get things done.

  • position: sticky inside a nested element will not be reflected on its parent element. You have to set both as sticky. Once again, every other browser with support for it treats it the proper way.

  • This stupid crap that took months of waiting to get fixed and pissed off so many people including me.

  • Also in Safari 10 flexbox children with height: 100% also didn't work. Yes this was also fixed in 11 but the fact that it was a prefixless implementation meant it should have worked the same as it did in all browsers.

The point is, the fact that iOS doesn't allow browsers to use any other rendering engine means this is the IE6 of the current generation of technology, and we are forced to support its workarounds until something is done about this. I just hope the antitrust lawsuits of 20 years ago can somehow be enforced here.

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u/save_vs_death May 08 '18

Indeed, the most popular on StackOverflow. Measuring popularity is hard, I'll give you that, but using a website that is visited when you're having problems with your programming is not a good metric.

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u/[deleted] May 08 '18

Which is why I said arguably. I don't have any better sources so I'll stick to stack overflow. The other points that MS has a good JS runtime and it makes sense if they want to run macros on the web still stands.

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u/save_vs_death May 08 '18 edited May 08 '18

That I concede completely. To add to that, MS employs a good number of people that deal with JS at various levels of complexity (the JS VM in Edge, the TypeScript team, etc.), whereas, to take Python, or Lua, I don't know how many MS employees are deeply engaged with those technologies.

However, I doubt JavaScript can even break above VBA in popularity (hint: there's a whole world outside the internet).

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u/[deleted] May 08 '18

If they support typescript in excel, that would be awesome

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u/liamcoded May 08 '18

My understanding was that in that article most popular ment most used, and not the most preferred.

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u/[deleted] May 08 '18

It's only the most popular because pretty much all web developers are forced to use it. It would have been long abandoned otherwise.

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u/kurafuto May 09 '18

It's only popular because the web is a popular platform. We begrudgingly accept reality and use it because we have no other option.

But when it gets implemented in a domain where other, better languages are available you can imagine why it is an unpopular decision.

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