👉 *Check out **squarespace.com/chandoo* to save 10% off your first purchase. ⏱ *Timestamps* for the video: 0:00 - Introduction & 6 parameters 0:45 - Ease of learning (parameter 1) 1:27 - Immediate application (2) 2:55 - How many places can we use the language? (3) 3:49 - Forgiveness of a language (4) 4:41 - Availability (5) 5:30 - Automation ability (6) 6:58 - So which one to learn? 8:55 - Advice for people who are NOT yet a data analyst 10:06 - Advice for people who are already a data analyst 10:40 - What about other programming languages? 12:09 - Where to learn either Python or VBA?
Thanks Chandoo. Good advice all around. I spend most of my day inside EXCEL, so VBA is a natural fit for me. But, would like to learn Python for fun and to expand horizons and knowledge. Thanks for your insights.. always appreciated :)) Thumbs up!!
Thanks a lot for clearing the confusion between these two languages. I would go for VBA. You're the best and your explanation is very learner-friendly. God Bless you :)
I agree with your point of view regarding someone who's starting to become a data analyst and someone who's already doing the job. In my work, I tried learning Python but wasn't really able to retain the knowledge because I was learning for the sake of learning and wasn't really applicable to my job. Whereas with VBA or at least basic macro, I was able to accomplish a lot of improvements because we are already using MS Office.
Well said! The best thing is, once you know something, you know it. So you will have free time to learn other things. After you have the necessary VBA skills, you can go and learn Python / M / DAX or something else altogether. All the best. 👍
I have watched all your videos and in my opinion your doing a great stuff by educating us on BI, VBA and excel learning's.. I am very grateful to you because I have learnt many things from your youtube videos... Thanks for making us educating on these programming..
Great video! Thanks for sharing your opinion. I could not agree more. Sadly Python is rarely allowed in companies, while VBA gets you going fast and without any additions to Excel. In addition, VBA allows me to let other colleagues use my code without installing python or anything else. Of course, you could also package a .exe with python, but in many cases, the internal IT blocks most .exe files from running.
if you are brand new to programming, learning python via simple 2D games is fun and object oriented. Learning a simple language and basics like functions, variables, classes (objects), and oop allows you to pick up a new language fairly easily, just learning syntax and a few workflow differences.
Great video! I first learned VBA but realize it was very limited to the MS Office, and I wanted to do more than that. Then I learned Python and actually never looked back. I tried to use Python whenever I need to automate Excel or data related things. That said, I totally agree that programming languages are just tools, and we as users have to decide what's the right tool to use for a given case.
I would've probably done the same. Except where I work (highly regulated industry), Python is next to impossible to get installed on your machine. VBA is right there.
@@drdeepee2503 I understand some companies don't want to take the risk, but I think they need to understand what risk is involved before making the decision to ban it. I work in insurance, which is also a highly regulated industry, and we are allowed to use open-source tools like Python or R.
Indians being solving modern problems like heroes . a big thanks to every Indians programmer and teachers In youtube, XDA, every platform. you guys are amazing and for sure one of the intelligent people in the globe
Hi Chandoo, I am completely from non tech background willing to learn to code in finance analysis field. Your videos gives a real clarity and are of great value.
Great video as always! I love the point about formulas being coding. I always try to do something in excel first with formulas before I turn to VBA because VBA raises the complexity for most users.
I'm switching over to Python from learning R. Seems to be a little more useful. Once I was able to download a PDF, scrape it, and then insert that data into the database I realized how powerful these tools really are.
I previously dabbled with R too (you can see my R for Data Science book in the video). I agree that Python makes some of the routine tasks amazingly fast and automated. All the best.
thank you, this was a humble sharing in terms of both VBA and Python. I like the statement to be open minded and learn whatever comes along and then use it as needed or as chosen.
I followed your advice six months ago, and I'm very glad! I was interested in learning a coding language for data handling in my job. I went with VBA because you said that those of us using Excel will have an immediate practical application. That was very true. I took three VBA courses and now I'm far more advanced in Excel than anyone at my 400 person company. And now I'm learning Python with the right perspective! I'm so glad I followed your advice and got that foundation with VBA. Thank you so much!
VBA is really great if you want to automate while you are in and using, for example, Excel or Word. Python is great for automating from outside Excel or Word. In Python from the outside you can run Word or Excel macros, so when you actually open Excel or Word, you will be looking at the finished result. No requirement for the user to press buttons.
i think VBA is better depending on skill level and what goal you're trying to accomplish. macro recording automatically writes your VBA code for you when doing simple tasks. as far as i know, you can't do that with python :) (would be amazing if you could though)
Hi chandoo , thanks for the honest and unbiased inputs.honestly, I will follow your inputs and choose VBA after a huge state of confusion . Really appreciate . I request you to make a video on books vs video to learn any programming language / skills from your perspective .
Learn whichever you want/need or is more immediately first - then 6 months later learn the other - the skills you acquired learning the first are almost directly transferrable to the second. So you don't lose either way. If you work in a company that uses Excel a lot (and so many many companies still do) then maybe prefer VBA first. If not, if you want a little extra flexibility, learn Python first. Learning a second similar OO language will take a fraction of the time of learning your first. You'll be coding in your second language in no time once you've mastered your first. That's why so many coders know several languages. It generally gets easier to pick up new languages as you go on. I know a guy who is proficient in Java, C#, C++, Python, Javascript, VB, F, Ruby, as well as knowing CSS, HTML and PHP as well as anyone I know - and legacy languages like Pascal, Cobol, Lisp and Fortran. When a new dialect comes out like Kotlin - he's coding to a staggeringly good standard in it inside one or two days. TLDNR? It matters a lot less than most people think.
The domain is also important.for example If we take finance industry then anyone who works in financial modeling then VBA is non negotiable and if the person is in trading then nowadays python is the must
Very good point. That said, most people will go thru a few domains in their life. I started off in Pharmaceutical, then went to insurance, then to tech, and now do a bit of HR.
Good advice - personally, I would agree that if you are working in a corporate environment where Microsoft products are used, learning vba is a terrific and efficient use of time. Advanced excel skills, including vba and also as you note, working with formulas, may be enough to super - charge your abilities and dramatically improve your productivity. Python, on the other hand, gets you involved with many applications outside of Microsoft. If you want to be programming more generally, it seems like python would be superior. However, not everyone will want to do this sort of more general programming - and if you do, basic python skills are really just the tip of the iceberg. The only slight caveat to this relates to indenting- for a beginner, it can be frustrating to deal with python’s fussiness about indents. This can distract from other learning as your code can break for indenting reasons. Vba doesn’t have this characteristic, so it may be a better language to start with.
Thanks Chandoo.. It is great learning.. I have shared ur video's links with my friends who actually need them. You have great skills.. Keep up the good work.
Tbh no, Office Scripts is based on JavaScript. I guess Microsoft is moving towards that more than Python. But python still has tons of packages that work with excel.
I got my nephew a Raspberry Pi for Christmas a few years ago and learned some very basic Python. I realized that it looked very similar to how my recorded macros look in excel and learned that it was actually a programming language called VBA. I now use VBA extensively at work and likely would not have gotten my recent promotion without it.
Is VBA easy to learn for non coders and is it a part of advanced Excel? If I learn VBA will python be easy for me? I am a mechanical design engineer with no programming knowledge or experience.
@@6My6sT6 Learning one programming language will certainly help to learn others. I only really use VBA, but with a few google searches, and trial and error, I have been able to create code for Google Sheets scripts on a few occasions.
A great feature of VBA is you just know how use formulas and functions in Excel and record Macros, and it will convert into a VBA program itself.. there's no such a thing in Python related to Excel
Chandoo hi, This comparison is so useful and applicable. However, you could make your tutorial enrich if you had added some screen examples which can be seen the functionality of two programming languages. Thanks
If you plan to deploy your application, then VB.NET is superior to python. The VB environment is feature rich and can be deployed easily on other computers - whereas, python, is just about impossible to deploy. I know that this is not what this video is about i.e. VBA. However, I just wanted to point out that VB.NET is a great all purpose environment for creating windows applications.
I did indeed watched "Programming with Mosh", and I really enjoyed how he explained it. Chandoo, thank you very much for the videos. I really appreciate your efforts. The organization I worked 90% uses Microsoft office so, I feel like I need to learn VBA and Macros. Can you kindly me tips on where I can learn VBA and Macro basics?
Hi chandoo, As python is now available in Excel could you please try to create new videos on this topic as i know the basics of both vba and python. And i use everyday vba towards my office work
Sir, Can you please make a short video about Excel SQL. Is it advanced VBA ? I'm confused as some job listings (Data analysts) requires you to have SQL experience.
Chadoo, pl. be nice and fair..pl. don't delete adverse comments..sometimes other people's comments are much informative and helpfull..pl. be open..I salute ur knowledge on excel though..thanks
HI Chandoo! Thanks for the amazing share ... Could you please tell us when does the point come when we use other tools other than excel for data analysis where excel has shortcomings? I mean it could be data size or visualization anything it could be.. just let us know
I always get some important information from your channel, even I try to implement in my job. I appreciate your hard work to provide smart work. Thank you Aashish
Hi, Great video...but you compare Python vs VBA. What about comparing to Visual Basic (VB)? I'm an old school developer. Started with Clipper in the DOS days, then moved to Visual Basic when coding for Windows. It's been 20 years since coding, but I've still retained my logic skills. I'm used to (and believe in) strong typing and coding rules. Sounds like Python (also being an interpreter not a compiler) is very lose and unstructured...which IMO sounds like a difficult task to debug, especially if you're working on someone else's code. For example, not having to declare a variable and its type, and just start using a variable anywhere in you code. Doesn't sound right. And how do you know if that variable is Global or local? I also don't see programmers using naming conventions to name their vars to their intended type (ie, cName is a char, nCount is numeric, aList is an array, etc.) Now...not to sound too old school, I do recognize that Python has been around for a long time, widely used , and very popular. So there has to be something I'm missing. Thoughts? Ideas? Comparison to VB and not VBA? Thank in advance.
Coincidentally, I too started my programming journey with VB (well, Basic first, then C, C++ and eventually VB). At a programming level, there is no difference between VBA and VB. Having used Python extensively during the last year (2022) I find that the variable scope is a dicey thing to get right. But not having to declare them makes the language more approachable to newbies. My kids who are 12 (last year) could start building fun games and programs in Python without needing to know any of that. So yeah, to a beginner it is a blessing, but for an experienced coder, this can be painful to watch.
@@chandoo_ Hey, excellent answer. So I’ve become a frustrated old school developer …well, not that old school… :). So based on your experience, is Python just coding for the “lazy” or those “who are looking for an easy way for a means to an end?” Tough to say when so many big companies are using it…though they don’t say where they use Python and if it’s used for critical mission projects. I like the idea of cross OS development, but seems like so many hoops and plug-ins to use for it to get even close to a strongly typed and mature language. So bottom line: VB or Python? I don’t believe VB is cross platform to MacOS…or is it? Tnx.
why isn't there any practical learning books on vba? Is it that microsoft does not want people to learn vba?or is it that things that microsoft do is not that encouraging towards the vba users? Or is it that it is so useful that people who know it want to keep vba skills their trade secret?
Hi chandoo, I m working in shipping industry all my daily works are in Excel like (data extraction, Data cleansing, after cleaning need to filling gap using lookup formulas , after filling gap need to organizing data, Data Transferring to msword template and also consolidation), and i handle VBA which already created if is there any error occurs while running means my team mate (now he left from my company) guided me, so i can able to debug existing vba code. In my project my company using Excel only. Right now no one know VBA in my team, mostly all our teammates are doing repetitive tasks every day. Now i m planning to learn VBA or Python or RPA. i m not that much good in coding (I Know basic SQL, PLSQL) could you please suggest me which one i need to learn right now.(if i learn VBA is that good for future? or directly can i learn python or RPA tools?) When i research I came to know RPA tools like Uipath have a drag and drop option and that RPA tools also automate excel tasks, do's RPA tools can able to automate my daily works which I said above? I m in confusing stage please help me to take currect decision.
PLEASE I have the project of getting some data from a dynamic website(which updates in realtime) to excel & further to process it for the result that can help me to take the decision- in this condition which is better -python or VBA? PLEASE
Hi Sir, Could you please guide me how to make automation using python software. I would like to automate some repetitive task which is kind input entry in some simulation software to get the output.
There is no such thing as "BEST" site. You an see the VBA getting started video here ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-l0o7VMEf0yc.html and if you want more, join the VBA classes I run - chandoo.org/wp/vba-classes/
