On: IronCalc – Open-Source Spreadsheet Engine

[kaathewise]

A spreadsheet engine. It's a React app with a Rust backend, but it impressed me how snappy it was[0]. Of course, it's not nearly as feature rich as Google Sheets, not to mention Excel.

[0]: https://app.ironcalc.com/

[mdaniel → kaathewise]

"backend" seemed to imply it was contacting some server, but https://github.com/ironcalc/ironcalc#early-testing claims (and the network tab confirms) it is just Rust compiled to wasm, no "backend" required

MIT or Apache 2 (player's choice) if anyone else has grown deeply suspicious about any "open source" HN headlines of late

[kaathewise → mdaniel]

Right, I've made a mistake! I keep getting surprised by the fact it's possible to simply compile a Rust crate with a WASM target and run it in the browser.

[fsckboy → mdaniel]

backend does not imply server to me, it implies software that does the calculating engine work and does not concern itself with display refresh.

[bonoboTP → fsckboy]

Backend is a general word, not limited to client-server or the web. You can have a rendering backend with various configurable choices, like in Matplotlib (https://matplotlib.org/stable/users/explain/figure/backends....), or the deep learning library Keras has a choice between PyTorch, JAX and TensorFlow backends.

[fsckboy → bonoboTP]

we're talking about a spreadsheet engine, the backend is not going to be the Xserver displaying it

[readthenotes1 → fsckboy]

In code that typically runs in on e process, that's a plausible interpretation.

However, the browser, sorry, the Internet browser, is typically a distributed system and a more plausible interpretation of backend is server-side.

IMNSHO.

[ninalanyon → fsckboy]

Surely that's background not backend.

[8n4vidtmkvmk → ninalanyon]

I wouldn't call it background unless maybe it's async or continues to process stuff while you're doing other things.

[fsckboy → ninalanyon]

what's the backend of a spreadsheet engine going to be doing? updating the datastructures of the spreadsheet.

is it going to be local or remote? that's not part of the question.

is it foreground or background? that's an implementation choice. apple II, yeah, everything freezes while it recalcs. windows? recalcs when it can, don't let the mouse freeze.

[nhatcher → kaathewise]

It's running entirely on your browser unless you click share, download or import. The computation part is done in Rust compiled to wasm.

Thank you for posting!

[kaathewise → nhatcher]

Yep, I've misunderstood, realized it after seeing mdaniel's comment.

Thanks for making this in the first place! I saw IronCalc in the list of projects supported by NLnet and it grabbed my attention.

By the way, if You don't mind me asking, how'd Tuta end up sponsoring IronCalc? It seems that lately they and Proton have been trying to expand their business away from just email. The fact that Tuta is interested in IronCalc makes me think they want to have an office-like offering.

[nhatcher → kaathewise]

Tuta sponsors by providing us with free email accounts, that's all. I reached out months ago, they liked the project and were kind enough to help us out with the email.

I haven't have talks with them about integrating IronCalc, but it is something that is on my mind.

[kaathewise → nhatcher]

Ah, I see. Best of luck with that!

There are a few projects where I'd love to see a modern spreadsheet implementation. CryptPad comes to mind. They use OnlyOffice, which is quite featurefull, but takes awhile to load and isn't as responsive.

[nine_k → kaathewise]

What Google Sheets functionality you're missing there?

Of course there's a lot missing, but what's interesting is what you've reached for and could not find.

[snthpy → kaathewise]

How tightly coupled are the React app and the Rust backend?

I hope the backend engine can be used standalone embedded in other apps.