Spreadsheets*
work-in-progress
The idea goes like this … humans naturally think about certain types of information in a list-like format. However, when it comes to multidimensional information, we don’t conceptualize it as lists of maps or dictionaries. These are computer concepts, not human, or just information concepts.
Instead, we intuitively organize multidimensional information in a tabular format. This is a more natural and accessible way for humans to process and understand complex(er) data.
To create a “more” high-level programming language, we need higher-level value types. These higher-level types then in turn enable more expressive and intent-based methods, which elevates the entire vocabulary of the language or of way of thinking forward.
Creating a spreadsheet
spreadsheet { "name" "score" } { "Bae" 299 "Jane" 405 "Jim" 302 }
; creates a spreadsheet with two columns and 3 rows
spreadsheet\rows { "name" "score" } ; todo
{ { "Bae" 299 } { "Jane" 405 } { "Jim" 302 } }
; creates a spreadsheet with two columns and 3 rows
Loading a spreadsheet
From CSV file
load\csv %file.csv
; returns a spreadsheet
From SQL query
open sqlite://examples/cookbook/sample.s3db
|query { select * from players }
; returns a spreadsheet
From JSON file
Generating a spreadsheet
Generating random sample
How would you make a spreadsheet in code. For example we want a random spreadsheet of 5 players with scores from 200 to 500.
names: { "Jane" "Jim" "Bob" "Abbe" "Heather" "Sasha" }
produce 5 { }
{ + [ random names 200 + random\integer 300 ] }
|spreadsheet* { "name" "score" }
; displays:
;
; | name | score |
; +--------------+
; | Jim | 412 |
; | Jane | 273 |
; | Abbe | 346 |
; | Jim | 221 |
; | Sasha| 275 |
Introspecting a spreadsheet
spreadsheet { "name" "score" } { "Bae" 299 "Jane" 405 "Jim" 302 } :spr
; get the number of rows
spr .length?
; get the column names
spr .header?
; get the types of columns
; display it
spr .display
Spreadsheet for information processing
These functions are all referentially transparent and symmetric. They accept a spreadsheet and return a new spreadsheet. This means you can transparently combine them together, to achieve what you want.
Autotype
Selecting columns
Filtering
Adding calculated rows
Grouping
Joining spreadsheets
Limiting (limit)
Using spreadsheet for storage