[Discuss] Frustration with SQL and Spreadsheets

Dan Ritter dsr at randomstring.org
Wed Apr 15 12:51:48 EDT 2026


markw at mohawksoft.com wrote: 
> > markw at mohawksoft.com wrote:
> >> One of the things I have to do a lot is transfer data to and from
> >> spreadsheets. Its so frustrating that they are essentially the same
> >> concept: an X/Y grid of cells is virtually identical to rows and
> >> columns.
> >>
> >> We have had databases and spreadsheets coexisting for over 40 years why
> >> hasn't anyone merged these two things? A "spreadsheet" program could
> >> very
> >> easily be set on top of something like SQLite.
> >>
> >> Does anyone know of such a spreadsheet?
> >
> >
> > It was invented in 1984:
> >
> > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javelin_Software
> 
> Was it based on a SQL database, I don't see that.

No, it was its own database type. At the time, SQL was two years
away from standardization, although it had been in existence for
about a decade.

If you have a DOS emulator handy, the Internet Archive has a
copy!

https://archive.org/details/Javelin3_5


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