Is there a Uni Dregree worth of learning in Excel???

[TinaP]

On a much more speculative level, I suspect also the following mechanism:

• In order to be really proficient in VBA, a good education in general programming and algorithms is necessary, and people who have it most likely perceive the language of formulas as something strange and weird,
• Those who do not have general programming education can master in formulas, but even if they do so, it does not get them any closer to programming in VBA.

I agree, with the following caveat: mastering formulas enables the user to determine whether a macro is necessary or not.

I came into Excel with a good background in programming and ended up writing macros for most everything, but I realized that becoming more proficient in formulas could simplify my life. Now I create workbooks that use macros to import data and formulas to populate the reports. I am not an expert in either, but knowing both helps me prepare much more efficient workbooks.

 

[Smitty]

[*]In order to be really proficient in VBA, a good education in general programming and algorithms is necessary, and people who have it most likely perceive the language of formulas as something strange and weird,
[*]Those who do not have general programming education can master in formulas, but even if they do so, it does not get them any closer to programming in VBA.

I disagree. I have a degree in Ranch Management and never stepped near a computer let alone VBA when I was in school, yet I work with both formulas and VBA. I think all you need to use either are fundamental logic skills, and if you have that you can find the resources for how to make it happen.

With regards to VBA and being a programmer, something strongly reiterated to Microsoft senior management this year was the fact that most VBA users don't have any background in programming or computer sciences. Hence the reason that VBA.Next must be easy to use and understand (to the degree that any programming language can be), and that it had to have a strong recording capability, as many users will never go beyond that. But most of all, it can not be a language that requires advanced programming skills (like .Net) or they'll lose the majority of their user base.

 

[J.Ty.]

I disagree. I have a degree in Ranch Management and never stepped near a computer let alone VBA when I was in school, yet I work with both formulas and VBA. I think all you need to use either are fundamental logic skills, and if you have that you can find the resources for how to make it happen.

With regards to VBA and being a programmer, something strongly reiterated to Microsoft senior management this year was the fact that most VBA users don't have any background in programming or computer sciences. Hence the reason that VBA.Next must be easy to use and understand (to the degree that any programming language can be), and that it had to have a strong recording capability, as many users will never go beyond that. But most of all, it can not be a language that requires advanced programming skills (like .Net) or they'll lose the majority of their user base.

Dear Smitty,

We are speaking about real experts in VBA and/or formulas, on the level of MVP (or close to it), a very small minority of all Excel users. Therefore the statistical profile of a general VBA user (who can hardly do anything more in VBA than record a macro) does not imply anything about their education. You are a counterexample to my speculative hypothesis, but a single one.

J.Ty.