hypothetical: more return stack levels on 11C, 15C, 16C

[Valentin Albillo]

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Hi, Eric,

What follows is IMHO, others may vary:

(01-18-2024 09:29 PM)brouhaha Wrote:  Does anyone have an actual use case where more return stack levels (perhaps double the current number) on those calculators would be particularly useful?

The HP-15C has 7 nested subroutine levels. In 40+ years, I've never ever used more than 3-4, and even those only once in a blue moon.

Quote:Increasing the return stack size wouldn't be too difficult, but increasing it substantially (like Free42) would slow down GSB and RTN, so I'd most likely only add a small number of extra levels.

Completely unneeded. Unless you're itching to do it just because, I suggest leaving it alone. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Quote:This means that it wouldn't be too useful for recursion, but it would be useful for cases where the normal calculator is a little short on subroutine levels.

There aren't such cases, unless artificially, specifically constructed for the purpose.

Quote:On the other hand, it's remotely possible that some programs exist that actually depend on the behavior with the limited stack.

Again, I very much doubt it, unless artificially, specifically constructed for the purpose.

Quote:I've considered this for the 41C/CV/CX also, but any significant changes to the 41 microcode and memory utilization run the risk of breaking synthetic programs that directly muck around with the status registers, and might also interfere with some microcoded ROM module functions. For exmaple, I'd have to test it with SOLVE and INTEG in the Advantage Pac.

See above. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." "And you'll risk breaking it.", I might add.

With all due respect, I suggest you use your time and effort on something more productive and worthy, there's bound to be tons of things that would benefit from your attention.

Best regards.
V.