Should calculators be able to read .txt files?

[Maximilian Hohmann]

Hello!

(09-11-2024 11:45 AM)StephenG1CMZ Wrote:  In reality, it creates .py.txt.

Given that creating a .py file on a PC seems utterly impossible, would it not make sense for calculators to handle reading and compiling .py.txt files, just like they can handle .py files.

I am not a PC/Windows person, but I happen to have a PC here for a few weeks that I will later need at work for making aircraft navigation database updates.
It is not the latest one but definitely 21st century and runs "Windows 10 pro". BTW: I bought it on eBay for 25 Euro and a matching 24 inch "full HD" monitor for 5 Euro. As a 30 year long Macintosh addict I am used to somewhat different figures, even for entry level pre-owned machines :-)

From old days when I had to work with Windows, I remembered that there is a setting "Always display file extensions" ("Dateierweiterungen" in the german localised version). Enabling this setting will let you save files as ".py" without the ".txt" added. So it is easily possible, but one needs to know what one is doing. If I can do it, any teacher who uses Python capable calculators (mathematics and physics I guess) should be able to handle that too!

(09-11-2024 11:45 AM)StephenG1CMZ Wrote:  I imagine this would avoid lots of problems in classrooms due to PC file formats being incompatible with calculators, which expect .py rather than .py.txt.

This is probably why the large makers of education calculators provide PC software (eg. "TI connect" which also runs natively on my Macintosh, very well done Ti!) which communicates directly with the attached calculators, thereby bypassing the operating system and it's quirks!

Regards
Max