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HP48 Insights II usability for 48G - zx_spectrum - 03-17-2023 05:59 PM
Hello
is the the book HP48 Insights II usable for 48G?
is it a waste of money to buy it for 48G?
RE: HP48 Insights II usability for 48G - cdmackay - 03-17-2023 06:24 PM
It's a shame that the 48GX version of Part II was never finished, but it's still worth reading, I found much useful stuff in it.
I doubt that anything written by Wickes would ever be a waste of time to read
RE: HP48 Insights II usability for 48G - cdmackay - 03-17-2023 06:25 PM
if you're worried about wasting money buying a physical copy, a PDF copy is available online.
RE: HP48 Insights II usability for 48G - zx_spectrum - 03-17-2023 06:28 PM
(03-17-2023 06:24 PM)cdmackay Wrote: It's a shame that the 48GX version of Part II was never finished, but it's still worth reading, I found much useful stuff in it.
I doubt that anything written by Wickes would ever be a waste of time to read
actually I care only about 48G.
so if I read part2 and try to apply it to 48G would I spend my time trying to find corresponding stuff on the 48G?
how much of it would be irrelevant to 48G?
RE: HP48 Insights II usability for 48G - zx_spectrum - 03-17-2023 06:30 PM
(03-17-2023 06:25 PM)cdmackay Wrote: if you're worried about wasting money buying a physical copy, a PDF copy is available online.
actually I would print it and bind it as a book and that is not cheap where I live
RE: HP48 Insights II usability for 48G - rprosperi - 03-17-2023 09:07 PM
(03-17-2023 05:59 PM)zx_spectrum Wrote: Hello
is the the book HP48 Insights II usable for 48G?
is it a waste of money to buy it for 48G?
Much of the content (and certainly the core techniques) applies, but not all of it. Some of works in the sense that there is no error, but results are not correct. Also, the GX added new capabilities that obviated some of those tools.
Given there is no GX Vol-II, I'd say it is still worth going through it; as others have said, you will learn a lot reading just about anything Bill Wickes wrote about the 48 series and RPL.
RE: HP48 Insights II usability for 48G - jonmoore - 05-03-2023 02:23 PM
Full agreement, that anything written by Mr Wickes is worthy of one's time.
The real value of Bill's 'Insights' books for me personally (inclusive of the orginal one for the HP28), is that it helped make sense of the broad design strategy behind RPL - specifically how it was intended to be an improvement on RPN by mirroring design elements from LISP and FORTH. The specifics of the available functions mayhave changed between the the 28C and 50g, but the broad thinking that informed the design of RPL remained consistent.
Whilst many would argue that RPL wasn't an improvement over RPN (due to it's increased complexity), LISP was probabaly the dominat programming language in academia in the late 80's early nineties (particuarly for faculty staff in mathematics and the sciences) so it actually helped adoption in those scenarios. FORTH natively utilises a reverse polish syntax, so it's understanable why the HP team first explored FORTH when they released the FORTH ROM for the HP71B and took inspiration from FORTH when creating RPL.
When you approach RPL with the added context of it's RPN/FORTH/LISP melting pot, it makes far more sense. And on that basis, reading the Insights volumes, whilst refering to the 48G Series Advanced User's Refernce - https://literature.hpcalc.org/community/hp48g-aur-en.pdf - should answer most usrRPL needs. If you want that go down the systemRPL rabbilt-hole there's other literature available here: https://literature.hpcalc.org/all