Programming Language that is Spreadsheet/Table Based

[Gerard Flanagan]

James Stroud wrote:
> I have spent a lot of time making a "Table"
> class over about the last year and a half, but I'm not sure what might
> be an intuitive interface for most people. First, I think it should work
> like a "sorted" dictionary of lists, but, at the same time, a list of
> sorted dictionaries. I also want *shorthand* for selection.
>
> For example, does the output below look like an intuitive interface? Or,
> more likely, how many people get squeamish when they see this interface?
> Do these squeamish people have any better ideas? This is a taste of how
> my Table class currently behaves:
>
> py> print t     # dependent on its property t.format
>      Last      First      Age
>      Barker    Bob        204
>      Burnet    Carol      64
>      Danson    Ted        54
>      Cooper    Alice      78
> py> t.headings()
> ("Last", "First", "Age")
> py> t.get_row(1)
> ['Burnet', 'Carol', 64]
> py> t[1]
> ['Burnet', 'Carol', 64]
> py> t.get_column('Last')
> ['Barker', 'Burnet', 'Danson', 'Cooper']

+1 from me up to here

> py> # the following is probably the trickiest, should it return a Table
> py> # should it be illegal?
> py> # should t['Last'] be the way to take the "slice" and get the col?
> py> t[None, 'Last']     # 1d slice returns list (2nd dim. explicit)
> ['Barker', 'Burnet', 'Danson', 'Cooper']

I can imagine manipulating columns at the Table creation stage -
insert, append, delete column - but after that I think you would be
dealing with rows more often. Personally, if I needed columns I would
be happier with a list comprehension:

    [ (row['Last'], row['Age']) for row in t ] etc.

eg. like:

    http://buzhug.sourceforge.net/

> py> t2 = t[1:3, ('First', 'Age')]  # 2d slice returns a new Table
> py> t3 = t[1:3,'First':'Age']  # shorthand to take a swath of columns
> py> t3 = t[1:3, 0:2]  # if we know what column numbers we want instead

t[1:3][0:2] and so on would be more intuitive to me, possibly
t[1:3]['First':'Age']

> Please don't criticize unless you have a better idea
> about the API of a Table. I want to hear genuine and concrete ideas and
> not abstruse pontification about programming or design! Statements of "I
> wouldn't do this thing here" should be immediately followed by
> "--rather, I would do this other thing for which I've created a concrete
> example below."

chill...

Gerard