1 link tagged with all of: data analysis + ad hoc queries + duckdb + spreadsheet alternative
Links
The author shares their shift from using Excel and Google Sheets to DuckDB and SQL for handling CSV files, highlighting the efficiency of querying data directly. They discuss the benefits of using SQL for data manipulation and invite readers to share their own CSV handling tips.
- DuckDB lets you run SQL directly on CSV files (joins, window functions, dedup queries) without importing them into Excel/Sheets first
- You can query CSVs from URLs or cloud storage like S3 directly, and export results straight back to CSV
- Several users find SQL queries more intuitive than replicating the same logic with spreadsheet formulas or pivot tables
- Some commenters mix in Parquet files and other extensions alongside DuckDB to further speed up ad-hoc analysis