Motivation: Why Google Sheets?

As discussed previously, you are going to be using low-code and no-code tools to build powerful applications. But before we jump into them, there is one important tool that you must first master: ✨✨ spreadsheets! ✨✨

📺 Watch the video below to explore the awesomeness of spreadsheets! (2:24)

Spreadsheets are powerful

Spreadsheets are an incredibly powerful tool that can be used to organize, analyze, and share data. Whether you're managing a budget, tracking inventory, or analyzing data, spreadsheets are an essential part of any business or organization.

The heart of any application, whether it's low-code or not, is storing and retrieving data. Modern applications use relational databases (e.g., Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL) to store data. Spreadsheets are not databases, but they organize data in a tabular structure of rows and columns. This means spreadsheets can be used to create simple databases, and/or manage data stored in external databases. They are ubiquitous in business, and having strong spreadsheet skills is a required foundation for effectively using other database tools like Airtable.

Learning spreadsheets will prove useful when we move to Airtable - a tool you will spend more of you time in this job working with. Airtable is a powerful database that is built on top of a spreadsheet interface. It allows you to organize and manage your data in a way that is more flexible and powerful than traditional spreadsheets.

The most popular spreadsheet program is Microsoft Excel. For this class, we will use Google Sheets which is another widely used and popular spreadsheet. Excel and Sheets share many, though not all, of the same formulas and features.

Sheets is free to use and offers a wide range of features that make it easy to create and customize spreadsheets. With Google Sheets, you can collaborate with others in real-time, share your spreadsheets with anyone, and access your data from anywhere with an internet connection.