RPN83P: RPN calculator for TI-83+ TI-84+ inspired by HP-42S

[bxparks]

(05-14-2024 09:28 PM)rohdo Wrote:  Probably won't use the calc too intensely, but I'll keep it close for BASE conversion and bitwise ops etc. (currently most common ops I do). Will let you know if I stumble on any bugs.

Since RPN83P is written in assembly, I also need to do bitwise calculations relatively often. I don't own a real HP-16C, but I did use the JRPN 16C app on my phone early on.

But nowadays, I use the RPN83P app itself. Mostly because I like physical buttons instead of a touchscreen, and because the calculator is readily accessible on my desk compared to digging out, unlocking, and selecting the app on my phone. And because it's hard to go back to a single-line display of the 16C, after being able to see the entire RPN stack on RPN83P.

But the BASE functions on the RPN83P are not ideal. I did the best I could given the hardware and software constraints:

* There are no dedicated keys on the 83+/84+ related to BASE functions, so I have to place all of them under the BASE soft menu.
* The BASE menu folder has too many functions, 8 rows, which can be hard to navigate. But a flat hierarchy seemed preferable to nested subfolders which can be even more annoying to navigate.
* The A-F digits for HEX numbers require the use of the ALPHA shift key, because there isn't any way to expose them through unshifted keys. (The 83+/84+ has only 5 buttons across for the soft menu, so it didn't make sense to expose only 5 out of 6 HEX digits through the soft menu buttons either.)
* The integer word size (WSIZ) can only be 8, 16, 24, 32 bits, instead of an arbitrary integer between 1 and 64 bits like the 16C. It's probably technically possible to extend RPN83P to support 64 bits, but that would require a substantial amount of work.
* There is no support for *signed* integer types in the BASE functions of RPN83P. This would not be difficult to add with regards to complexity, but it would require a lot of grunt work: All of those extended bitwise and integer arithmetic routines would need to be written by hand, since the Z80 does not have hardware support for most of them beyond 8 or 16 bits.

There is one bit of UI improvement I added yesterday: Base-2 numbers (binary numbers) are now rendered in small font instead of large font. That allows 16 digits to fit across one line, so both WSIZ 8 and 16 numbers can be displayed in full, like this:

   

This will be included in the next release.

Brian