HP 41 Catalog implementation

[rprosperi]

The CCD ROM (from 1985) added this feature while in CAT-2:

-In normal mode, pressing [XEQ] would execute the currently highlighted command/function

-In Program mode (yes, CAT-2 works in PRGM mode) pressing [XEQ] will insert the currently highlighted command into the program you are editing, as the next instruction

Angel Martin's AMC-OSX module includes this, plus many other CCD ROM extensions to the OS, so it can be installed and used today in emulators, the 41CL and the DM41X.

So this is not a new idea, and has been there a very long time.

As for why it was not in the original OS, who can say, but it's likely a combination of ROM being full (which it pretty much was) as well the team certainly never imagining from the beginning, just how far and wide the variety of modules would evolve in it's future.

Its easy to look back on an old, mature design and wonder why the initial developers didn't see this or add that, but the magic hindsight of 20/20 just wasn't available. Remember that the core 41 OS was basically done in '79 and even the CX features were added as mostly external ROM commands; it never really evolved very much once completed. The most interesting OS enhancements came from 3rd parties, like this one.