csv json and arrays

There's a lot to unpack here - let's start with working independent of the internet... are you going to be distributing your code for offline use?

If this data is going to be used by a limited number of people, all of whom you have access to you could do a google doc and write a cool script to give powerful search functionality. Google docs can be set up by the user to work offline.

There are tools like google firebase and MongoDB that give you offline access after the first visit. I'm guessing some of the archeologists are going to be in far flung places.

The simplest thing to do would be to create a webpage that uses jquery and datatables.net that picks up the json feed and allows searching. It won't, however, give you offline functionality unless you embed the json into the webpage and then you've got a nasty performance problem.

The next best thing would be to put that data into a table and write ajax queries for the datatable to give a really powerful search experience. There's a bit of upskilling involved there, and it still wouldn't be available offline. There's equivalent stuff you can do with nextjs and other coding systems.

Finally, I think Microsoft Access is still about - that lets your users download a single file with a search screen built in.

 

Easier: it all depends on what's doing the search. Json is more predictable.

You could put an html file on a usb with the json and use JavaScript to search.

 

If your goals are web development then you don't really need maths but you definitely need logic, attention to detail - and resilience.

If you want to work on other systems, where you have to manipulate data to provide meaningful information then maths might be necessary but chances are Google will serve you up a code snippet or example that someone else has already done.

As an example, in fact my only example, my husband had drawn up an excel spreadsheet showing how NZers could leverage Government assistance programs to buy a house and pay it off in 25 years (the "normal" timeframe) and he wanted it put up on a website. The layout was going to be a challenge but the real problem came with the calculation of interest and principal. In excel it's a function but I couldn't find anything for javascript or PHP and the equation blew my mind. I did university statistics papers but this was something else. I have been a programmer for 30+ years and it just hasn't been an issue.

Logic and resilience - let me tell you about my week. I'm working on a specific tool in the admin panel of a new site I'm building. My time is my own so I can take my time. I had a plan for what I wanted to do and there were some online examples of how people used the npm plugin I intended to use. I'm new to jsx so my expectation was that I'd need to refactor my code a few times. I eventually threw all my code out and started over with a different strategy to get to the same end goal. Finally yesterday I started to make really good progress and I'm on the right track. Does it hurt to bin code, oh yes, is it just part and parcel of being a programmer - absolutely.