[hk__2]

Why make a Vim plugin instead of a standalone program since it’s read-only?

[cowsandmilk]

As a Vim plugin, you get a lot of features of Vim for free (e.g. search, familiar bindings). And the code is only 56 lines. A stand-alone program would likely have less features and be much longer.

[daGrevis]

Not everything has to be useful or even sane. Especially on _Hacker_ News.

Edit: To clarify, I think this shows what hacking is all about. Playful cleverness and curiosity.

[DougBTX]

Most of the functionality is in the xlrd library, think of this as just a frontend.

[bcj]

It's possible they eventually plan adding write support using xlwt.

[mattxxx]

because.... vim!