[ExI] ai class at stanford

[spike]

>... On Behalf Of Adrian Tymes
Subject: Re: [ExI] ai class at stanford

2011/8/23 spike <spike66 at att.net>:
>> So in that loose sense, a spreadsheet with macros could be considered an
object oriented language, ja?

>...Not really, IMO.  It is possible to use the concept of objects in non-OO
languages, and I believe what you describe is an example of such.

OK cool.  I like the spreadsheet programming environment in some ways,
because it lets you see everything that is going on.  If you think of each
individual sheet as an interchangeable module,  the language can even be
considered modular and top-down.  A sheet or a column of cells fits at least
the strict definition of a user defined function and a sheet, column or even
perhaps a single cell fits at least the strict definition of a user defined
function.

I am pushing this notion for a reason.  The engineering environment in which
I work has enormous resources already in excel sheets.  An example would be
an extremely sophisticated atmosphere model, which has evolved over the
years, and takes into account F10.7, geomagnetic index, latitude, longitude,
altitude, time of day, temperature, pressure, a bunch of other minor
factors, and it works really well, but the catch is, it's a spreadsheet.
Porting all that to any other language would be a nightmare.  That
atmosphere model looks to me like an object.  Pressure as a function of
yakkity yak and bla bla would be a user defined function.

spike