Challenge 1: Running a Basic Apps Script Function — Solution Walkthrough

Steps:
  1. Open a Google Sheet, Extensions > Apps Script.
  2. Paste in:

     function setGreeting() {
       var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getActiveSheet();
       sheet.getRange("A1").setValue("Hello");
     }

  3. Click Run (selecting setGreeting if prompted to choose a
     function), authorize the script if asked.
  4. Switch back to the Sheet — cell A1 now reads "Hello."

Why this looks nothing like a VBA Sub procedure:

VBA wraps a procedure in Sub setGreeting() ... End Sub, uses Dim to
declare variables, and typically accesses the current worksheet via
something like ActiveSheet or Worksheets("Sheet1"). Apps Script
instead wraps the same logic in function setGreeting() { ... } —
JavaScript's own function syntax, closed with a curly brace rather
than an End Sub keyword — declares variables with var (no Dim
equivalent), and reaches the active sheet through
SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getActiveSheet(), a chained
sequence of method calls rather than a single built-in object
reference. Both pieces of code accomplish the identical practical
task (writing "Hello" into cell A1), but neither the surrounding
syntax nor the object-access pattern resembles the other at all.

WHY THIS WORKS AS AN ANSWER
------------------------------
This is the direct, hands-on confirmation of this chapter's own core
claim: Apps Script and VBA solve the same category of problem using
genuinely different underlying languages, not just different keyword
names layered over the same structure the way VBA and LibreOffice
Basic mostly are.