[Novalug] OT: sorting spreadsheet columns

[Ross Patterson]

At 22:56 7/2/2008, Jim Ide wrote:
>Although your reply makes perfect sense, a blank spreadsheet
>is still an empty *table*

Yes, because you're a database guy, not a spreadsheet guy.  It's a 
pre-conceived notion, and I think the point some of us have been 
making is that spreadsheet guys don't see it your way.  You're not 
wrong, but seeing spreadsheets as databases  is only as correct as 
seeing C as FORTRAN: you can simulate a database in almost any data 
structure, just like you can write FORTRAN in just about any language.

>I guess I was expecting someone to explain that there was a
>specific and commonly used application, process, or formula
>that hardcore spreadsheet users constantly use that makes it
>convenient for them to have columns sort the way they do by
>default.

Yes: it's called "let Excel expand the range".  I know this is a 
Linux group, but when you talk about hard-core spreadsheet guys, 
you're talking about Excel.  This feature works exactly the way an 
end-user expects it to.  While there are lots of other things wrong 
with Excel, this one is pretty cool.  If other less-prominent 
spreadsheet programs aren't quite so smart, that's a shame.

Ross