Robert Holtzman wrote:
On Mon, 6 Jul 2009, Gene Young wrote:
Richard Detwiler wrote:
I'm a bit confused by the statement about how information on users
shouldn't be stored in a spreadsheet, because it is so easy to
corrupt the data.
Does this suggest that the only information that should be put in a
spreadsheet is data where it doesn't matter if it gets corrupted?
If so, that would significantly reduce the usefulness of spreadsheets.
I assume there is some key point that I'm missing, so please
enlighten .... thanks.
Basically a database is for storing and retrieving information. A
spreadsheet is primarily for performing calculations on data. In
common usage, people have come to use spreadsheets to store
information because the learning curve is much shallower than learning
to work with a database.
The answer you stated addresses why people tend to use spreadsheets to
store data. What I would like to know is why you think information in a
spreadsheet can be corrupted more easily than that in a data base. As
the previous said: "I assume there is some key point that I'm missing,
so please enlighten ...."
People do not generally protect data in a spreadsheet, so every time it
is opened by another user, there is the risk that that user might
accidentally (or deliberately) change something. Perhaps they have
their own favorite formats they want to see the spread sheet in. Maybe
they prefer everything in 14 point Albertus Medium. They may apply a
style to the sheet that gives that appearance and inadvertantly change
some other format that isn't readily apparent until someone notices that
the wrong numbers are rounded inappropriately. There are many scenarios
that are less than pleasant.
In a properly designed database that possibility is reduced. Not
eliminated, but definitely reduced.
--
Gene Y.
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