Everyday use of programmable Calculators without Continuous Memory/Storage Devices

[Kostas Kritsilas]

In my college electronics classes, I used a Ti-58 (non-C version). The TI-58 used a "memory module" (a small plug in ROM, also used with the TI-59 and TI-58C) that contained application programs. There were memory modules that had electronics applications, but being a student, I couldn't afford those, so wrote and keyed in my own programs to work out various things that were part of our curriculum (setting up bias on a class "A" transistor amplifier, impedence of an RLC network, filter design, etc.) and carried a thin book of programming sheets with me that documented the various programs. Helped cut through a lot of the drudge work. It was tedious, but since I was a student, I didn't have the money to get the "latest and greatest" every time TI or HP came out with a new calculator, so made do with the TI-58. I would assume that most other people owning HP-25s, HP-55s, HP-33Es (and TI-55 and TI-57s) did pretty much the same.