We just released a new version of Expector, with a number of bug fixes (thanks for all the reports!) but also a few new features: Test quality Clicking this button helps you determine how well your spreadsheet is tested. Expector calculates what percentage of non-empty cells in your spreadsheet that are covered (refered to) by at least […]
VLOOKUP considered harmful
If you have worked with spreadsheets a bit, you must have encountered lookup functions. The most common one is the VLOOKUP, which can be used to couple two tables: What not everyone knows it that you can use LOOKUPs in another way as well, to classify data. That looks as follows: By default, Excel (and […]
A modern day Pompeii: Spreadsheets at Enron
Update (1-15-2014): This paper is accepted at ICSE 2015 in the industrial track. Real spreadsheets needed From the day I got the idea of researching spreadsheets for my PhD dissertation, I needed access to ‘real life’ spreadsheets, those as really used within companies. I approached a number of companies and naively thought they would share a few […]
Using a visual language to create better spreadsheets – Bas Jansen
Bas shows a real spreadsheet that he uses in his daily work as accountant. Just 1 spreadsheet file, with 52 worksheets, but references to 70 external worksheets! 26.038 cells The process is usually as follows: A company uses an ERP system, on which the out a data warehouse for reporting. But, people grab flat tables […]
Stop blaming spreadsheets (and take a good look in the mirror)
This week, spreadsheets hit the news again, when data for a book written by economist Pikkety turned out to contain spreadsheet errors. On this, Daniele Lemire wrote a blog post warning people not to use spreadsheets for serious work. This is useless advice, let me explain why. 1) Only a fool blames their tool Heathcare.gov is built in […]
