From: Dwayne Henderson <its.code.in.here@...>
Date: 2013-02-05T21:38:05+09:00
Subject: Re: Financial models using Ruby

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Hey thanks a lot Ralf - tons of strong points there. I'll definitely be
going for Ruby now.

> The drawbacks:
> 1) people could not longer use Excel
> 2) no gui

I'm sure I can make up for this by turning it into a smooth Rails webapp
(that imitates cells), maybe coupled with a decent charting library. If
anybody has any suggestions, do feel free to let me know and in turn I'll
keep them posted as well.

> Most important might be Unit-testing (I'm sure there are thousands of
buggy excel lists in the banks out there - hey might be the REAL reason for
the crisis ;-).

Hahaha :)

Thanks again man!


On Tue, Feb 5, 2013 at 9:21 AM, Ralf Mueller <ralf.mueller@zmaw.de> wrote:

>  On 02/05/2013 08:41 AM, Dwayne Henderson wrote:
>
> I'm working on this financial model<http://leeds-faculty.colorado.edu/moyes/html/documents/FinancialProjectionsModelv6.8.9.xls>for my upcoming ecommerce business using OpenOffice.org Calc (and the BASIC
> programming language). But as the need for more advanced programming arises
> (making the various spreadsheets more dynamic and interconnected, applying
> algorithms for analyzing data and forecasts etc.) I can't help but think
> that maybe this would all be a lot easier if it was Ruby.
>
> Is anyone aware of similar financial models made using Ruby, and if so how
> are they implemented? Are they simply Ruby wrappers for Calc or Excel, or
> maybe Xero, or a dedicated Rails app?
>
> --Dwayne
>
>
> Hi Dwayne!
> I'm not familiar with any financial models, but I've seen a lot excel
> stuff for analyzing data. so here are my 2cts:
>
> When I worked for a x-Ray tube company, they used excel to prepare data
> for the tube controller. I took 1-2 hours for every tube and only 2 people
> were able to do  this. My first task was to improve this situation. I used
> ruby for this, although they wanted me to do this in VBA ;-)
>
> With my final version it was possible to create the data
> 1) within 5 min per tube
> 2) automatically from the command line
> 3) independent of the number of data sets (excel strongly depends on the
> number of rows or columns of input data).
>
> The drawbacks:
> 1) people could not longer use Excel - I'm not kidding, this IS a real
> disadvantage, because (esp.) non-programmers tend to use excel for
> everything. That's why it's a lot easier to give your software away, when
> you've written it in Excel (or calc). People are simply familiar with it.
> 2) no gui - my gui was an editor with the config file opened. Anything
> else (like a cool gui) will keep you from the problem (or I am just not
> familiar with writing guis).
>
> I think ruby is a really good choice for doing these things -
> implementation could take a while, but you'll get a lot back: Most
> important might be Unit-testing (I'm sure there are thousands of buggy
> excel lists in the banks out there - hey might be the REAL reason for the
> crisis ;-).
> As long as you do not want to change anything excel is ok, because it
> simply runs. Keep in mind, who should use your software - programs are most
> useful when used properly.
>
> regards
> ralf
>

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Hey thanks a lot Ralf - tons of strong points there. I&#39;ll definitely be=
 going for Ruby now.<br><br>&gt; The drawbacks:<br>&gt; 1) people could not=
 longer use Excel<br>&gt; 2) no gui<br><br>I&#39;m sure I can make up for t=
his by turning it into a smooth Rails webapp (that imitates cells), maybe c=
oupled with a decent charting library. If anybody has any suggestions, do f=
eel free to let me know and in turn I&#39;ll keep them posted as well.<br>
<br>&gt; Most
    important might be Unit-testing (I&#39;m sure there are thousands of
    buggy excel lists in the banks out there - hey might be the REAL
    reason for the crisis ;-).<br><br>Hahaha :)<br><br>Thanks again man!<br=
><br><br><div class=3D"gmail_quote">On Tue, Feb 5, 2013 at 9:21 AM, Ralf Mu=
eller <span dir=3D"ltr">&lt;<a href=3D"mailto:ralf.mueller@zmaw.de" target=
=3D"_blank">ralf.mueller@zmaw.de</a>&gt;</span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1p=
x #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
 =20
   =20
 =20
  <div text=3D"#000000" bgcolor=3D"#FFFFFF"><div><div class=3D"h5">
    <div>On 02/05/2013 08:41 AM, Dwayne
      Henderson wrote:<br>
    </div>
    <blockquote type=3D"cite">I&#39;m working on <a href=3D"http://leeds-fa=
culty.colorado.edu/moyes/html/documents/FinancialProjectionsModelv6.8.9.xls=
" target=3D"_blank">this
        financial model</a> for my upcoming ecommerce business using
      OpenOffice.org Calc (and the BASIC programming language). But as
      the need for more advanced programming arises (making the various
      spreadsheets more dynamic and interconnected, applying algorithms
      for analyzing data and forecasts etc.) I can&#39;t help but think tha=
t
      maybe this would all be a lot easier if it was Ruby.<br>
      <br>
      Is anyone aware of similar financial models made using Ruby, and
      if so how are they implemented? Are they simply Ruby wrappers for
      Calc or Excel, or maybe Xero, or a dedicated Rails app?<br>
      <br>
      --Dwayne<br>
    </blockquote>
    <br></div></div>
    Hi Dwayne!<br>
    I&#39;m not familiar with any financial models, but I&#39;ve seen a lot
    excel stuff for analyzing data. so here are my 2cts:<br>
    <br>
    When I worked for a x-Ray tube company, they used excel to prepare
    data for the tube controller. I took 1-2 hours for every tube and
    only 2 people were able to do=A0 this. My first task was to improve
    this situation. I used ruby for this, although they wanted me to do
    this in VBA ;-)<br>
    <br>
    With my final version it was possible to create the data <br>
    1) within 5 min per tube<br>
    2) automatically from the command line<br>
    3) independent of the number of data sets (excel strongly depends on
    the number of rows or columns of input data).<br>
    <br>
    The drawbacks:<br>
    1) people could not longer use Excel - I&#39;m not kidding, this IS a
    real disadvantage, because (esp.) non-programmers tend to use excel
    for everything. That&#39;s why it&#39;s a lot easier to give your softw=
are
    away, when you&#39;ve written it in Excel (or calc). People are simply
    familiar with it.<br>
    2) no gui - my gui was an editor with the config file opened.
    Anything else (like a cool gui) will keep you from the problem (or I
    am just not familiar with writing guis).<br>
    <br>
    I think ruby is a really good choice for doing these things -
    implementation could take a while, but you&#39;ll get a lot back: Most
    important might be Unit-testing (I&#39;m sure there are thousands of
    buggy excel lists in the banks out there - hey might be the REAL
    reason for the crisis ;-). <br>
    As long as you do not want to change anything excel is ok, because
    it simply runs. Keep in mind, who should use your software -
    programs are most useful when used properly.<br>
    <br>
    regards<span class=3D"HOEnZb"><font color=3D"#888888"><br>
    ralf<br>
  </font></span></div>

</blockquote></div><br><br>

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