The Calculator Minimalist Programming Club

[Eddie W. Shore]

Featured:

Radio Shack EC-4004
Casio fx-3600g
Casio fx-3650p
Radio Shack EC-4036
Texas Instruments TI-55 III
Active RPN app on my iPod Touch

Link: http://edspi31415.blogspot.com/2017/01/t...mming.html

[SlideRule]

Eddie

Interesting. How would you rate some of the ancient calculators, such as the Sinclair? I have a number of Equation writer calculators and deploy them in a manner very much like a minimalist program, but much easier to use. I would suggest many programmable calculator enthusiasts utilize a similar approach. Any thoughts?

BEST!
SlideRule

[jjohnson873]

(01-08-2017 10:34 PM)Eddie W. Shore Wrote:  Featured:

Radio Shack EC-4004
Casio fx-3600g
Casio fx-3650p
Radio Shack EC-4036
Texas Instruments TI-55 III
Active RPN app on my iPod Touch

Link: http://edspi31415.blogspot.com/2017/01/t...mming.html

Hi Eddie....always enjoy your posts. No "Active RPN" app in Apple Store. Still waiting on Apple approval??
Cheers....Jim

[Thomas Okken]

(01-10-2017 04:53 AM)jjohnson873 Wrote:  No "Active RPN" app in Apple Store. Still waiting on Apple approval??

According to Eddie's list, that app is from 2010. Looks like it was withdrawn -- that will happen automatically if someone loses interest in iOS development and lets their developer subscription lapse.

That subscription costs $99/year plus tax, so if you're only doing it for fun and are not making enough in purchases, donations, or satisfaction, you probably are going to drop it at some point, and then all your apps will vanish from the App Store.

[Eddie W. Shore]

It's sad that Active RPN is no longer available on iTunes.

[Eddie W. Shore]

(01-09-2017 02:00 PM)SlideRule Wrote:  Eddie

Interesting. How would you rate some of the ancient calculators, such as the Sinclair? I have a number of Equation writer calculators and deploy them in a manner very much like a minimalist program, but much easier to use. I would suggest many programmable calculator enthusiasts utilize a similar approach. Any thoughts?

BEST!
SlideRule

Sliderule,

Looking at picture of Sinclair Cambridge Scientific (thanks Google), and if I extended the Minimalist club to include non-programmable scientific calculators, this would definitely qualify. I would also add the Casio fx-82 (1982-ish) and the TI-25X (TI-30S International version, 1990s) to the list.


Give its size, the HP-9S would also qualify to be part of the Minimalist Club.

I would love to see some more details about your approach of equation writer programs as a minimalist approach.

Eddie

[striegel]

(01-16-2017 04:53 PM)Eddie W. Shore Wrote:  It's sad that Active RPN is no longer available on iTunes.

The version 1.2 that I have installed on my iPhone has been there since before IOS version 10 came out. The first time I opened it after upgrading to version 10, the operating system warned that it was not fully compatible with IOS 10 (I did not capture the actual message).

A look on match3g.com, where Nolan Piper, the developer promotes his products says:

"2016-10-04 NOTE: There are problems with some older apps running on iOS 10. For example, the setting switches do not work in Active RPN. Updates are planned. Percent Calculator is fine. Thank you."

That sounds like he might intend to fix the problem and provide it again.

[SlideRule]

(01-16-2017 04:59 PM)Eddie W. Shore Wrote:  .. Looking at picture of Sinclair Cambridge Scientific ... I would love to see some more ...

Eddie

Thanks for the reply. I was referring more to the Radio Shack EC-4001 (& the Sinclair it was derived from) as a smaller subset of imitated minimalist calculators like the EC-4000 (& the TI it was derived from).
As for equation writer calculators, I am referring to models similar to a SPECTRA SSC-200 (which remember a limited number of mostly short equations).

BEST!
SlideRule

[SlideRule]

Eddie

With only 10 lines of memory and RPN I suggest inclusion of the Lintronix 2290

BEST!
SlideRule

[Maximilian Hohmann]

Hello!

(01-29-2017 05:12 PM)SlideRule Wrote:  With only 10 lines of memory and RPN I suggest inclusion of the Lintronix 2290

Yes, a wonderfully useless machine of it's own (I am lucky enough to have one in my collection - quite difficult to find in Europe!). But it is not RPN. Rather "Adding machine logic" or whatever they call it.

Regards
Max

[Csaba Tizedes]

(01-08-2017 10:34 PM)Eddie W. Shore Wrote:  The Calculator Minimalist Programming Club

As I wrote earlier, the best and really useful calculator from CASIO is the CASIO fx-50F - and it have only 29 steps.

Some little marvel on it:
- Equation solver: 14 steps, with secant method
- Inverse Normal Distribution: same as above, uses the FMLA library of the calculator
- Clausius-Clapeyron ODE solver: 16 steps, with Euler method
- Clausius-Clapeyron ODE solver: 27 steps, with modified Euler (Predictor-Corrector method)
- Flying height of a bullet, ODE solver: 23 steps, with Euler method
- Approximation of irrational numbers with ratio of relative primes: 28 steps, short routine with a little trick (my favourite)
- Finding Darcy friction factor (Colebrook-equation): ??? steps, iterative search
- Rosin-Rammler distribution fit to measured particle size distribution: ??? steps, a short program in L.R. mode

And many little program during my work.

50F is the best well designed scientific calc and equipped with many useful additional things, like constants, six memory with arithmetics, alpha LCD (you can input/output data with labels A, B, C, D, E, F), two program area, linear regression and equation library. By the way few millimeters thick only, powered with solar cell and the layout and colour scheme well designed.

... maybe I like this calculator?!?


Csaba

[Maximilian Hohmann]

(01-29-2017 08:36 PM)Csaba Tizedes Wrote:  ... maybe I like this calculator?!?

Unfortunately, it has a grey liquid crystal display. What a pity.

[Csaba Tizedes]

(01-29-2017 09:23 PM)Maximilian Hohmann Wrote:  What a pity.

Max, I was thinking a lot on your really short answer to fully understand your feelings. First my thought was you're only provocative, the second was you're only jealous, but I think I can feel it perfectly: you think about this equipments like a collector. That is the difference between us. You're a simply collector, but I'm a practicing engineer. I can understand that ages, when engineers designed calculators for the engineers. But that era was gone. What a pity.

Csaba

[Maximilian Hohmann]

Hello!

(01-29-2017 11:49 PM)Csaba Tizedes Wrote:  ... the second was you're only jealous...

Actually I am a tiny little bit jealous of people who actually get paid for using a calculator :-) I would probably get an invitation to my boss for tea and cookies (as the saying goes in my professional environment) where I can explain why I waste precious working time on his expenses with those toys of olden times instead of using the expensive dedicated hardware they provide me with...

Yes, I see this site mainly as a museum/collector site and could really not imagine that a thread like this one here about minimalistic programmables (which deserve a special place in every collection!) would actually attract active professional calculator users!

Regards
Max

PS: I still wish there was an LED variant of that Casio calculator...

[Dwight Sturrock]

(01-29-2017 11:49 PM)Csaba Tizedes Wrote:  where I can explain why I waste precious working time on his expenses with those toys of olden times instead of using the expensive dedicated hardware they provide me with...

How else are you going to double check the answers that the "expensive dedicated hardware" gives you?

[Maximilian Hohmann]

(01-30-2017 11:35 PM)Dwight Sturrock Wrote:  How else are you going to double check the answers that the "expensive dedicated hardware" gives you?

As most of the things in my current professional environment do happen in real time, there is no good way to double check those answers. I would have to buy some time at the expense of our customers to do that ("Dispatch, please hold the passengers for another two or three hours in the terminal while I recalculate our flight plan with my trusted old Litronix machine" - 100% certain tea and cookies with the management).

[Csaba Tizedes]

(01-30-2017 10:47 AM)Maximilian Hohmann Wrote:  people who actually get paid for using a calculator :-) ... I could really not imagine that a thread like this one here about minimalistic programmables would actually attract active professional calculator users!

I guess we are in a little same situations.

I think the calculator is the only one equipment which enables to get close to an engineering problem. Solving a problem is too personal, no any huge and expensive hardware can do it.

Csaba

[Csaba Tizedes]

(01-31-2017 11:42 AM)Maximilian Hohmann Wrote:  please hold the passengers for another two or three hours in the terminal while I recalculate our flight plan with my trusted old Litronix machine

OK, I fully understand you - I'm a mechanical engineer and I design pneumatic conveying systems for power plants. One project is lasts approx 1-1.5 years, so I have a little more time to recalculate pressure drops during a conveying line...

Csaba

[Csaba Tizedes]

(01-08-2017 10:34 PM)Eddie W. Shore Wrote:  Featured:
Texas Instruments TI-55 III

One application on my TI-57 LCD - maybe it is enough for membership:



(if you open it in YouTube, you can navigate with the description links in the video...)

Csaba

[StephenG1CMZ]

(01-11-2017 08:44 AM)Thomas Okken Wrote:  

(01-10-2017 04:53 AM)jjohnson873 Wrote:  No "Active RPN" app in Apple Store. Still waiting on Apple approval??

According to Eddie's list, that app is from 2010. Looks like it was withdrawn -- that will happen automatically if someone loses interest in iOS development and lets their developer subscription lapse.

That subscription costs $99/year plus tax, so if you're only doing it for fun and are not making enough in purchases, donations, or satisfaction, you probably are going to drop it at some point, and then all your apps will vanish from the App Store.

I cannot help but wonder what theories future archaeologists will construct to explain why the 21st Century had so many empty shops but had yet to invent any software to keep in them.