You might also want to look at the .Net environment, MS are really pushing
that and as I understand VB.Net and C# should not be totally alien to you.
In these environments, with Excel 2003 On, you should be able to do anything
that you want with the Excel object model, so manipulating workbooks will
not be a problem.

--
HTH

Bob Phillips

(remove nothere from email address if mailing direct)

" wrote
in message ...
I am a Unix systems programmer with 20 years of
experience writing programs in C (not C++). Now I am
retired and searching for a programming environment
primarily to write simulations for financial analysis. I
expect to integrate the simulations into Excel spreadsheets.

My question is: what are my alternatives, and what do
you think I would be happiest with, based on my background?

Excel VBA seems like an "obvious choice", based on those
requirements. But I wonder: will I be happy with the
performance and programming language?

Also I wonder: do I want to use VB by itself? Is that even
an option? Alternatively, is it easy to use C/C++ on
Windows and import the data into Excel?

I would welcome feedback from people ideally with
experience with both Excel VBA and other programming
environments, notably Unix/Linux and C/C++, who can
offer some comparative data.

Also, pointers to specific objective magazine articles on
the subject would be helpful.

TIA.