Homoiconic spreadsheets: What, How & Why (by Eli Parra)
Only a few months ago, lambdas were added to both Excel & Google Sheets, advancing spreadsheets from formulas to true functions. What would it take to get the world’s biggest programming paradigm to the next level, to the meta-programming of Lisp?
I believe we need homoiconicity, a key concept of Lisp, that is surprisingly within reach. Building on @lambdasierra’s fun & lucid talk from Clojure/Conj 2017, you will grasp the concept in a fresh new way with a visual demo of what code as data looks like in spreadsheets.
Finally, you will be inspired by the potential of these new spreadsheets by seeing applications taken from practice (SJCRH) & research (Microsoft).
Clojure has a history of successfully remaking dominant but “non-prestigious” concepts, starting from being built on the JVM. It also made Datomic out of databases & Clojurescript out of Javascript. Clojure spreadsheets may be the key to the next stage of growth & fun!