Original Blog Entry: Dreaming up the next "Lab"

hypersoniq — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 16:11:36 GMT

So, I started on spreadsheets many years ago. I moved to Python (and a few C++) scripts to analyze csv draw histories. They all have the same thing in common... you have to have a solid idea before creating anything. I have taken these game histories across multiple concepts and it takes time to create each one only for the same result... nothing but an occasional coincidental hit.

There are more ideas, but it would be better to have a rapid way to get a feel for how a new idea might pan out without needing to start from clean sheet spreadsheets or scripts for every single idea (and idea variant).

I know I have mentioned it before, but the path may indeed be SQL. It does not even require converting the csv files into tables! So my initial challenge is to pick a database engine to use, which I have, PostgreSQL 18.3 (which is also an excellent choice for computational biology because it handles JSONB) and using a program like LextEdit to directly enter SQL queries. I have to set up the ODBC drivers for this solution, but if it gets too messy, I can default to the PostgreSQL command prompt, like I did when taking DB courses.

I do not know if this will work, because I have not tried it yet, but it seems better than copying an entire spreadsheet and changing core formulas to try an idea variant or a partial rewrite of Python scripts for the same purpose.

Anyone else tried SQL for rapid idea prototyping?... [ More ]