new functions microsoft excel now turing

'It will be interesting to see how users continue to experiment with and apply not only LAMBDA but also data types and dynamic arrays. 'LAMBDA allows skilled authors to extend Excel with application-domain-specific functions that appear seamlessly part of Excel to their colleagues, who simply call them. 'Moreover, even if it takes greater skill and knowledge to author a lambda, it takes no extra skill to call it,' researchers said.

It didn't let users define new functions. The Excel formula language supported only scalar values like numbers, strings and Booleans To get there, researchers at the Calc Intelligence project addressed two shortcomings to the LAMBDA project, which is conducted in coordination with the Excel team and which was first announced early last month. 'You can now, in principle, write any computation in the Excel formula language,' said Microsoft researchers in a Jan.

According to one definition, that means, 'A programming language is Turing complete if you can implement any possible algorithm with it.'Īnd that's exactly what LAMBDA can now do. Being Turing complete is the litmus test of a full-fledged programming language, marking the ability to imitate a Turing machine. Microsoft, which calls its Excel spreadsheet a programming language, reports that an effort called LAMBDA to make it even more of a programming language is paying off, recently being deemed Turing complete.

New functions microsoft excel now turing