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

[bxparks]

(11-12-2024 02:25 PM)spiff72 Wrote:  The behavior that I like about nSTK mode is that if you enter multiple items on the stack without any other operations (4 ENTER 3 ENTER 2 ENTER 1 ENTER), and then press the drop key, the "1" on the first level is dropped, and all the other items on the stack drop down, placing "2" in the first level.

In 4STK mode, the above operations would drop the 1 from the X level, making it zero, but the other levels remain in their places.

Does that make sense? If this could be done with a "large" stack level (maybe 10-20?), this would be ideal for me.

I think I know what you mean: Instead of a fixed-size RPN stack, you want an RPL-stack which grows and shrinks dynamically as needed. In terms of UI, this means that when you clear (or consume) a stack element, it gets replaced with a blank entry instead of 0.0000. It also means that when the RPL-stack is empty, a DEL operation results in a "DROP Error: Too Few Arguments", instead of doing nothing, which is something that has confused countless RPL learners.

If you only need a maximum of 10-20 stack levels, this probably isn't too difficult. But as I wrote earlier, it is not high on my priority list since RPN83P is aimed for RPN fans not RPL users. (I admit that I am biased against RPL, because my HP-50g is the only calculator that I own that I actively dislike.)

(11-12-2024 02:25 PM)spiff72 Wrote:  Another suggestion I would have is to add a conversion in the UNITS menu similar to the in-cm section, but for mm and inches. As an engineer, I think in mm mostly - rarely in cm.

An inch<->mm conversion feature is easy. The problem is the menu UI. In the current system, it would be ambiguous whether the '>in' soft menu label meant "mm->inch" or "cm->inch". With only 4 characters available in the menu label, I cannot think of any way to disambiguate.

I admit that the UNIT conversion of RPN83P is nowhere as sophisticated as some of more advanced HP calculators (e.g. HP-50g, Plus42). My goal was to be somewhere in the range of an HP-32sii calculator, which provides only 8 unit conversions, so I think I have surpassed at least the 32sii.

I do appreciate the feedback and suggestions. There are so many features that could go into RPN83P, and I have limited free time (currently almost none), so I apologize in advance if I cannot implement your favorite feature.