Path: ...!news.nobody.at!weretis.net!feeder8.news.weretis.net!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!individual.net!not-for-mail
From: liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid (Liz Tuddenham)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics.design
Subject: Re: Serial, concurrent, parallel
Date: Thu, 16 Jan 2025 15:16:58 +0000
Organization: Poppy Records
Lines: 55
Message-ID: <1r69dpn.1bbzdc81ozzc9wN%liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid>
References: <vm69a2$2h52d$1@dont-email.me> <vmam6l$3et7s$1@dont-email.me> <vmar9r$3g1ud$2@dont-email.me> <1r695ej.t31qiz7lhsjkN%liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid> <vmb2ko$3hal6$1@dont-email.me>
X-Trace: individual.net 7y1c8bef57wG5MdDpJCNAQNVekCNV/fB5lAu6Qgc1CfRM7amL0
X-Orig-Path: liz
Cancel-Lock: sha1:lzAwMEzesbH8C9V7nHD1dohmBos= sha256:LFdVj7bFA/ifE3nqduAiDxk6DSxGVHNGvywdNll/KWw=
User-Agent: MacSOUP/2.4.6
Bytes: 3179

Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> wrote:

> On 1/16/2025 5:03 AM, Liz Tuddenham wrote:
> > Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> wrote:
> > 
> > 
> >> ... Especially as so many people seem to use spreadsheets
> >> in lieu of (real) databases.  :<
> > 
> > As far as I can see, a databse is just a spreadsheet that has been
> > crippled by having all the cells on each line tied together
> 
> Databases (relational ones) are *so* much more.  In addition to
> strict typing on each "column", you can define relationships
> between columns and specific values in columns, writing code
> to enforce constraints so that certain values are not accepted
> in certain places based on other values, etc.
> 
> E.g., I can state that "fertile" can not be true if "sex" is not "female".
> On a per-record basis.  So, Bob can never be marked as "fertile" but
> Becky might!
> 
> Or, that the city can not be "chicago" unless the state is "Illinois"
> (I am assuming there are no chicagos in other states; "Springfield"
> tends to be a popular city name -- but, there is no Springfield in
> Alaska so if someone tries to enter an address of Springfield,
> Alaska, it is known to be invalid and shouldn't be accepted.).
> 
> Or, that a social security number must be of the form XXX-##-####
> *and* XXX can't be 000, 333, 666, etc.
> 
> Or, that a mother's birth date must precede those of her biological
> children by at least 5 years but the father's must precede his
> biological children by 9 years.
> 
> Etc.

All of those can be done on a spreadsheet.  ...and similar checks can be
done between cells in different rows.  The check formula is written into
a 'hidden' cell and the final result is displayed in a 'locked' cell.
If someone puts in faulty data, the spreadsheet can't stop them but it
can ensure that the dud data doesn't appear in the output.

I use spreadsheets for all sorts of things: calculating component
values, customers and accounts, encoding sensitive information,
addressing envelopes, uploading invoices to the Web ...etc.

I tried using a database to keep track of my Christmas Cards, but find
it slow and restrictive compared with a spreadsheet.


-- 
~ Liz Tuddenham ~
(Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply)
www.poppyrecords.co.uk