Scientists rename genes to stop Microsoft Excel from misreading them as dates (2020)

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Excel auto-conversion & new toggle

  • Excel historically auto-converts “gene-like” strings (e.g., SEPT2, MARCHF1) into dates or numbers, corrupting scientific data, especially via CSV round-trips.
  • In 2023 Microsoft added a per-file toggle to disable automatic data conversion on Windows/macOS; some see this as overdue and still imperfect (edge cases, macros, older versions).
  • Others argue Excel already allowed column types (Format Cells → Text, Import Text Wizard, Power Query), so the problem is user workflow and awareness.

Implicit conversions as a broader problem

  • Several comments frame this as part of a larger “implicit conversion / type safety” problem seen in JavaScript, MySQL, YAML, PHP, etc., sometimes called another “billion-dollar mistake” alongside null pointers.
  • Others counter that permissive conversions also enabled huge productivity gains, and are widely chosen because they’re convenient.
  • Debate over whether the right framing is “type safety” (actionable) vs. vague “expectations vs. reality” mismatches.

Why scientists still use Excel

  • Many argue scientists are constrained by institutional IT, licensing, and standardization; they cannot freely choose alternative tools even if they’d like to.
  • Some say most domain experts have already moved off Excel for this use case, but a minority (plus admins, clinicians, editors) can still corrupt shared data.
  • Pro-renaming view: changing a handful of gene names is a low-friction, field-wide mitigation compared to retraining everyone and replacing tools.

CSV, formats, and alternatives

  • CSV is criticized as inherently ambiguous (no schema, no types); Excel’s double-click CSV behavior silently converts and discards leading zeros, plus signs, and gene-like IDs.
  • Workarounds include: pre-formatting columns as text, using import wizards, small macros, or encoding text as Excel formulas in CSV (="Data").
  • Alternatives mentioned: LibreOffice (similar auto-conversion but slower and less compatible), JSON with a hypothetical .xljson extension, databases, Jupyter/R/Python, Emacs org-mode.

Responsibility and expectations

  • Some blame scientists for not mastering their tools; others call this unreasonable given Excel’s hidden defaults and moving target behavior.
  • Several comments emphasize this is as much a social/organizational problem (IT gatekeepers, vendor lock-in, user training) as a technical one.