Comparison of Spreadsheets with other Development Tools (limitations, solutions, workarounds and alternatives)

TL;DR

This paper compares spreadsheets with traditional development tools, highlighting their unique risks, limitations, and potential solutions, to improve understanding and management of spreadsheet-related challenges.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive comparison of spreadsheets and traditional development tools, offering insights into managing risks and overcoming limitations in spreadsheet development.

Findings

Spreadsheets have unique risks not present in traditional tools.

Transitioning from paper to electronic spreadsheets introduces fundamental dangers.

Proposed solutions help mitigate risks and limitations in spreadsheet use.

Abstract

The spreadsheet paradigm has some unique risks and challenges that are not present in more traditional development technologies. Many of the recent advances in other branches of software development have bypassed spreadsheets and spreadsheet developers. This paper compares spreadsheets and spreadsheet development to more traditional platforms such as databases and procedural languages. It also considers the fundamental danger introduced in the transition from paper spreadsheets to electronic. Suggestions are made to manage the risks and work around the limitations.