Why Spreadsheets Are The Biggest Gateway To Coding
Or, why “=SUM()” is the most common “hello, world” in history
Every once in a while, people wonder “what’s the most popular programming language on the planet?” If you check the recent surveys, usually they’ll say it’s Javascript or Python.
But I always argue these surveys are off base.
I maintain that if you wanted to find the place where the most folks on the planet are doing programming — by which I mean they are i) issuing commands to a computer that coax it to ii) manipulate and crunch data, to iii) store things in databases, to iv) extract them, and then v) show the data someone else, and to vi) make digital tools that other folks use …
… the answer is simple: It’s the spreadsheet.
When I say “spreadsheet” I mean Excel, Google Sheets, Apple’s Numbers, or any other similar tool. This is a nuttily popular category of software: There are an estimated 2 billion people using spreadsheets on the planet.
Spreadsheets are thus the most popular programming environment on the planet.
Now, you probably noticed I called it the most popular programming “environment”, heh.
