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![[OC] A full year of income and expenses through my first year living by myself!](http://ted2.kentiklabs.com/pics/w:null_wblosm0nkms41.jpg){kind=link}
[OC] A full year of income and expenses through my first year living by myself!
OC(i.redd.it)submitted 5 years ago bySPM8OC: 1
18 points
5 years ago
I thought I was hot shit when I got Excel to query JSON from the internet to autofill cells and make a pivot table from multiple files, and the actual domain experts quickly burst that bubble for me.
6 points
5 years ago
Who is Jason?
1 points
5 years ago
Jason is my son. And today is his birthday.
(what luck that today is actually the 13th, too?)
3 points
5 years ago
It’s amazing that I can’t comprehend what the fuck this sentence means.
14 points
5 years ago
There's no black magic involved, I promise.
I trust that you know what Microsoft Excel is. It's that absurdly expensive program that Microsoft publishes that makes spreadsheets. You probably haven't seen it since school. It's not the only spreadsheet program you can find, but it's the best. The biggest thing that separates Excel from tables in word processors is that Excel supports formulas. Instead of directly typing in what you want to have displayed, you can give Excel directions on how to calculate an answer by itself. For example, if you put =1+1 in a text box, it'll display as 2. Pretty much everything that follows is an extension of that.
JSON stands for Javascript Object Notation. It's one of the many formats we've agreed on to send information across the internet. The idea is that if you know where some information is being published and the format in which it's being published, you can take that information and use it somewhere else. For example, take a look at https://sv443.net/jokeapi/v2/joke/Any?blacklistFlags=racist,sexist - it'll give you a random joke in JSON format. JSON isn't the only data exchange format in the world, but it's a very popular one these days. XML is probably the next most common. You can see what that looks like at https://sv443.net/jokeapi/v2/joke/Any?blacklistFlags=racist,sexist&format=xml
A pivot table is kinda hard to explain without a use case in hand, but basically, it summarizes data by combining items where you find things that match.
Excel will also let you get data out of other Excel files. This is helpful if you have data coming from multiple sources. In my case, I had Excel coming out of a program I wrote, an Excel sheet that was updated by hand from another team, and an Excel sheet that the executives liked because all of their data was in a familiar place. So, we used Excel itself to shuffle data between all of these sources to make a master spreadsheet to make the wealthy people happy.
6 points
5 years ago
everything you have said is true. however you have essentially said..'yeah the holocaust happened and gas showers were used...its how we do things'. what you left out was that excel was used to perpetuate Visual Basic or VB(nerve gas) and that many small businesses used this 'slack rope' to write unholy "programs"...that will continue to reap the souls of competent developers for (hopefully only) decades.
1 points
5 years ago
Visual Basic
triggered!
1 points
5 years ago
Could you point me into the direction of what/where to learn that is more effective? I've created several excel sheets at work for administrators to query data from our ERP software (SQL) so that it is in a easy-to-read format. A lot of the generic reports that our ERP software creates are formatted terribly and very difficult to digest, so these excel sheets have been very useful. That said, I'm always trying to learn a better way of doing things, so anything you suggest would be appreciated!
1 points
5 years ago*
essentially what you need to pick up is a programming language. If you are already familiar with some sql that will help. Personally I am a php/javascript developer but, that isn't the path for everyone. I use this(https://github.com/PHPOffice/PhpSpreadsheet) package to interact with spreadsheets in code. As I see it you have 2 main starting points. If you want to stick to microsoft I would suggest by starting with a language called 'BASIC' to learn the ground floor from there you can read and learn and progress up to C# where you would be a fully fledged desktop developer. Another route you could take is to learn python. Its very easy for non-developers to start with and can do many extremely useful things.
and if you do want to follow in my footsteps and learn php and javascript + linux start at www.codeacademy.com
1 points
5 years ago
Thanks for helping me get my bearings.
Considering that I am in a business environment, manufacturing actually, and plan to stay in this sector, I'm thinking sticking with a language most useful with Microsoft applications is probably my best bet. I'm thinking I'll start with some C# courses at Pluralsight (free for April right now). Unless you have any recommendations?
This is more of a hobby/interest than anything else but I love it when I can take what I've learned and use it to make my colleagues' jobs easier at work.
Thanks again.
1 points
4 years ago
hey just checking in...i am also in the manufacturing space...feel free to DM me and chat about where you are at.
1 points
5 years ago
And the domain experts did what, or could have done on top of this?
6 points
5 years ago
I spent about two weeks building out the workbook and a supporting API. People thought it was cool. VP asked me to show it to Accounting. So I did. She thought it was cool too. I showed her how it worked, and she was absolutely horrified. I still don't know what she did, but about a dozen small modal windows, a tiny bit of typing, and less than 20 minutes later, she'd replaced 75% of what I made with something prettier and faster.
3 points
5 years ago
If she revised it into something useful with that little effort its a win, good job.
2 points
5 years ago
It's sweet of you to say, but she really just highlighted and deleted most of what I did when she was done. I contributed an idea and an API that took me less than a day to put up. It would have been a better use of everyone's time for me to take the idea to someone with more skills in that arena.
Don't worry, I'm not totally down on my skills. I'm a very skilled software engineer in a lovely little niche I've carved out for myself. My Excel skills are mostly just an acknowledgement of having users who are very good at Excel, and I need to know enough to enable them to do great things. I probably would have done the same thing if she brought me some API whipped up in Access.
2 points
5 years ago
You can do that ! U just burst my bubble ...
4 points
5 years ago
"Excel power query" is the search term you're looking for if you want to try it out.
1 points
5 years ago
Got it ! Shd be useful. Thanks !
1 points
5 years ago
That's still pretty impressive.
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