why Microsoft Excel can't support if() function for thousands of mulitple
choice without VBA coding

Why? Because the programmers didn't "teach" it how to do that. They provided
the CHOOSE, HLOOKUP, VLOOKUP, and LOOKUP, and MATCH functions which may solve
you problem if you describe what it is.

On Mon, 18 Apr 2005 21:25:01 -0700, "reneabesmer"
wrote:

why Microsoft Excel can't support if() function for thousands of mulitple
choice without VBA coding

Because there are always limits (65000+ rows, characters in a cell,
worksheets in a book, etc.). We may not like the limits, but surely we can
understand that not everything can be unlimited. In this instance there are
so many alternatives that it does not even seem necessary to request MS to
provide more, there are more pressing needs (more than 3 conditional formats
for instance).

--

HTH

RP
(remove nothere from the email address if mailing direct)


"reneabesmer" wrote in message
...
why Microsoft Excel can't support if() function for thousands of mulitple
choice without VBA coding

reneabesmer shared this with us in microsoft.public.excel.programming:

why Microsoft Excel can't support if() function for thousands of
mulitple choice without VBA coding

You raise a well thought criticism.

A Really Good Design[0] allows either Zero, One, or Infinity[1]. If Two
is allowed, it can be argumented that Three would also be acceptable,
and why not Four, ad infinitum.

However, this is only theory. In the Real World, programmers have to do
concessions. Sometimes a fixed limitation is used so that more
optimi(s|z)ed algorithms can be used, with a faster program as a
result. A theoretical Good Design is not always the fastest design.

When a limitation has to be chosen, you'll usually see a power of two
in an Almost As Good Design (or sometimes a power of two -1). In the
case of Excel you can use 8 nested if() functions: 8 = 2^3, and 8 is
also the number of bits in one byte. On a similar matter, please read
http://j-walk.com/ss/excel/odd/odd13.htm


[0] I use capitals to indicate abstract concepts. You shouldn't
interpret the capitali(s|z)ed words literally. Think "Discworld" (Terry
Pratchett) to grep the context.
[1] only limited by memory, disk space, or other physical limitations.

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