I’d be remiss if I didn’t link to the great experiment “Microsoft Excel: Revolutionary 3D Game Engine?” suggesting that Excel’s non-sequential workflow should be given a shot for visualizing or prototyping complex procedures:
Thanks to its Autocalc function the editor, the compiler, the linker and the runtime environment are integrated on such a high level that is unpaired among current tools. After changing a formula in a cell the result is visible immediately without the need for performing the steps mentioned above. Programmers don’t have to save, compile, link and run the executable and there is no need even to switch the active window.
Now, normally, the words “Excel engine files” should send you running, but I appreciated the paradigm shift and the author trying to bring some sexy to the (decidedly unsexy) spreadsheets.
