
Show HN: I built a spreadsheet app with Python to make data science easier - ricklamers
https://hackernoon.com/introducing-grid-studio-a-spreadsheet-app-with-python-to-make-data-science-easier-tdup38f7
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pplonski86
Congratulations on launching! I had a similar feeling that there is a missing
tool, which will allow to code and see data at the same time. I have started
doing some sketches of the app very similar to yours.

In my opinion Spreadsheets and Jupyter have many advantages and disadvantages
- by combining both, there can be a nice tool for data science.

It will be nice to add more examples to your app.

~~~
ricklamers
Thank you for the kind words. I'll be adding more examples in the future and
think of a better way to make them shareable (like Jupyter .ipynb files).

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ricklamers
Some of the feedback I've gotten was along the lines of: make a SaaS version
to make it easy to run (i.e. not having to install it locally).

I'm happy with it just being an open source project but I recognize that a
SaaS hosted version could be interesting to some people who want to run it in
the cloud without hassle. And second, it could provide me with some income to
be able to continue support/develop the open source project in the long run.

I've set up an initial version
[https://dashboard.gridstudio.io](https://dashboard.gridstudio.io) based on an
API integration with DigitalOcean droplets.

All feedback is very welcome! If someone has a particular love for pen-
testing, let me know if I dropped the ball somewhere ^^.

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dwrodri
Relevant alternative catering to Vim users:
[http://visidata.org/](http://visidata.org/)

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rabidrat
There is another, more fundamental difference between VisiData and spreadsheet
apps like this one: being column-oriented (as opposed to cell-oriented). Cell-
oriented spreadsheets are great for one-off calculations and creating a visual
workflow that fits onto a single sheet, but when you get into larger datasets,
you almost always want to work with columns as first-class entities.
Individual cells and arbitrary cell ranges are difficult to work with at
scale, with data larger than a couple hundred rows.

Also, being cell-oriented makes the spreadsheet not immediately interoperable
with other data tools like pandas and R/tidyverse. No single tool will handle
all use cases, so it's important to keep the data in its highest-potential
form, so that other tools can work their magic without having to reorganize
the data first.

So I'm glad that Grid Studio is bringing Python to the web, and I hope they
consider going one further and integrating a column-oriented architecture.
Otherwise using VisiData or pandas directly will still be your best option for
working efficiently with larger datasets.

~~~
ricklamers
Interesting perspective about column v.s. cell oriented spreadsheets
applications.

Someone has opened an issue on GitHub for something related. I'll be
investigating how to get the best of both world with proper integration of
Pandas column oriented world view and the ability to directly edit individual
cells!

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sherbondy
Nice! Looks like a kindred spirit to “Flowsheets”:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1Ca5czOY7Q](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1Ca5czOY7Q)

But broadly usable in the here and now! Excited to try it out!

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bencollier49
This is very similar to Resolver One, which launched about 14 years ago.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resolver_One](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resolver_One)

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slowmotarget
I see a great potential for cleaning CRM data with this tool. Nicely done!

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based2
[https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/ci311t/how_i_b...](https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/ci311t/how_i_built_a_spreadsheet_app_with_python_to_make/)

[https://github.com/ricklamers/gridstudio](https://github.com/ricklamers/gridstudio)

[https://github.com/quigleyj97/jupyterlab-
spreadsheet](https://github.com/quigleyj97/jupyterlab-spreadsheet)

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I_complete_me
Heartiest congratulations on the birth of your brain-child. This is something
I wanted for a good while. Will definitely dive into it.

~~~
ricklamers
Good to hear that it's something you want!

I have to say, it's been quite the emotional ride to release this project.
Even now I'm constantly embarrassed, it's stupid how bad I feel about so many
parts of it (incompleteness, code quality, lack of proper parsing grammar,
list continues ad infinitum).

Release early release often they say, that's definitely easier said then done!

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thenaturalist
Fantastic work, congratulations!

~~~
ricklamers
It means a lot, thanks!

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sjoebergco
Nice work, cool idea, congratulations on launching!

