Excel not the right tool?

Subject: Excel not the right tool?
From: Miki Magyar <MDM0857 -at- MCDATA -dot- COM>
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1999 13:04:35 -0700

Correct me if I'm wrong (now there's an invitation!), but I thought Excel was designed as a spreadsheet program for accounting stuff, not as a database. Okay, okay, any collection of Stuff can be considered a 'database', but I'm talking about programs like Paradox (which is the only one I have used) that are designed to support a structured query language, data entry, and so on.

It seems reasonable to use the right tool for the job. If you're only familiar with one tool, perhaps it's time to expand your horizons. So in answer to Alecia Lee's query about using Excel to create a catalog, I'd suggest she explore what proper database programs can do.

We've seen a number of posts asking "How can I warp this tool that I already know to make it do something quite different?" My generic standard answer is, don't bother. Find out what tool is designed to do that job, and learn to use it. The usual caveats of time and budget apply, of course.

Anyway, that's what I say. I just said it.

Miki
mikim -at- ieee -dot- org

"there's a dance in the old dame, yet, archie"


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