HP 50g Bug or Expected Behavior?

[John R. Graham]

I have a little program called Timer that I use to benchmark the execution time of other programs. It's really simple:

Code:

%%HP: T(3)A(R)F(.);
\<< TIME \-> startTime
  \<< EVAL TIME
startTime HMS-
  \>>
\>>

I use it enough that I assign it to a key (in this case [Left Shift][HIST]). So, when I want to benchmark a program, I type the program's parameters (if any), separated by spaces, hit the single quote followed by the program-to-benchmark's soft key and then hit [Cursor Right][Left Shift][HIST].

Now, what I believe should happen is that the whole entry line should be evaluated. What actually happens, is that "Timer" gets added to the entry line and I have to press [ENTER] to execute the lot. I should note that the Timer function will execute with no redundant [ENTER] keypress if I put all the arguments including the quoted program name on the stack prior to hitting [Left Shift][HIST], but that just moves the redundant [ENTER] keypress somewhere else.

The proximal cause appears to be that the single-quoted program name puts the entry line into Algebraic mode (as shown by the ALG annunciator at the top of the screen). The only way to get the entry line out of Algebraic mode is to press [ENTER].

Am I thinking about this correctly?

- John