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#clojure-europe
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2020-05-15
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synthomat06:05:52

good morning!

otfrom08:05:58

another fun day of reading in excel spreadsheets using clojure and doing data science to them

Ben Hammond08:05:55

do they arrive in .xlsx format?

Ben Hammond08:05:01

or dull old csv?

otfrom09:05:05

they arrive in .xslx format. No one sends me csv

otfrom09:05:23

tbh, I've started to like in/out xlsx more than csv

otfrom09:05:38

I only get annoyed with the 32 char limit on tab names

otfrom09:05:00

but being able to output a lot of tabs in one work book (or indeed read from them) is pretty nice actually

otfrom09:05:07

and I say this as an excel hater

otfrom09:05:09

which wraps poi

otfrom09:05:26

I need to write some extra bits sometimes, but I've done enough java over the years to not be bothered by that

Ben Hammond09:05:42

I have hideous memories of having to use MS J++ for Excel reading/writing

RAMart09:05:21

We do a lot of Word, Excel and PowerPoint using Clojure. We stopped using POI for several reasons. We are now using https://products.aspose.com/ (Java, wrapped in Clojure).

ordnungswidrig09:05:01

The pricing is solid.

otfrom09:05:53

and I'm always a bit twitchy about depending on something proprietary in my tool chain (happy to pay for FLOSS)

RAMart09:05:15

And we were unhappy depending on the ever-changing-and-breaking-poi in our toolchain. 😂

otfrom09:05:25

that's fair enough

otfrom09:05:44

I've not found poi to be a problem in ours, but then I don't do too much with it

otfrom09:05:03

that step from $5k to $14k is a tough jump, and the stuff we build we release open source (and is an important decision factor for our clients in local and central gov't in the UK)

RAMart09:05:27

Sure, it's not a one-size-fits-all. Many requirements – technical and non-technical ones like Open Source – are to be considered when choosing a library.

otfrom09:05:25

that is true

otfrom09:05:37

(sorry, not trying to say that your team made a bad decision at all)

otfrom09:05:09

clj-pdf has been ok for the pdf gen I've needed to do too

RAMart09:05:12

> not trying to say that your team made a bad decision at all No prob, I didn't get it that way.

otfrom10:05:53

tho I do completely get the desire to avoid crufty, dependency heavy apache libs. I too have been bitten before

otfrom10:05:00

tho if I can't add a graph to the output that might not work for me

RAMart10:05:17

The name sounds familiar, but I'm not sure. I ask the team if they stumble over it when looking for solutions...

otfrom10:05:03

🙂 thx. Always good to meet the others struggling with weird formats

Ben Hammond10:05:30

how far do they do in support Excel's funkier features?

Ben Hammond10:05:56

are they vulnerable to macro-based malware?

synthomat14:05:46

interesting, I actually have never thought about scripts in excel when parsing the files with non-excel. Do libraries actually execute any formulas?

jasonbell14:05:39

Facebok acquire giphy, what am I going to do now!

otfrom14:05:10

I do wonder some times if it is possible for small interesting things to survive under capitalism

otfrom14:05:41

they'll either get bought (and probably killed while turned into a FB only feature) or killed as they compete w/someone bigger

synthomat15:05:57

for 400M – hosting animated images must be really profitable, hehe