Comparison of Spreadsheets with other Development Tools (limitations, solutions, workarounds and alternatives)

The spreadsheet paradigm has some unique risks and challenges that are not present in more traditional development technologies. Many of the recent advances in other branches of software development have bypassed spreadsheets and spreadsheet developers. This paper compares spreadsheets and spreadsheet development to more traditional platforms such as databases and procedural languages. It also considers the fundamental danger introduced in the transition from paper spreadsheets to electronic. Suggestions are made to manage the risks and work around the limitations.