A poll again, concerning the 43S (again)

[walter b]

(01-04-2015 02:01 AM)brouhaha Wrote:  What seems natural to billions of flies may not be wrong, but it holds no appeal for me.

I know this joke, Eric. Anyway, if we'd build a clone of a HP-41Cx we'll end up with a luxury product for the enlighted top of the Honourable and Ancient Order of Urr-Pee-Ann (HAO-RPN, pun intended for those of us knowing some Mandarin). These will be very few people with an average age of let's guess 75 - i.e. a small and naturally deceasing market (I hate to tell you that but such is life). OTOH, if we'd take a glimpse of a look to the other 99.999% and succeed in not completely repelling them, the world may well be wide open. So we may reach what we all here (should IMHO) want: carry the best of HP's RPN tradition to new adepts by setting up a superior product which may be attractive also for folks who didn't build their career on a vintage HP pocket calc.

That said, I see little value in resurrecting a strange operator sequence last produced some 30 years ago. The reason why I call it "strange" is given below. Just my 20m€ as usual, of course.

Until I find that thread again where it was discussed: IIRC, it turned out that "- + * / top down" was based on a poll in a department of HP at the time the HP-35 was developed. For me as a person who worked five years for a US-based company this looks like a classical quick and dirty solution this country is reknown for* (in opposition to a solution based on some thorough theoretical analysis - no offence intended). Thus, I'd vote for not overestimating that traditional HP order. At the same time, TI (horribile dictu!) showed a more comprehensible order for whatever reason (sorry again). I suggest also using "+ - * / bottom up" for the 43S for reasons stated in earlier posts - and remember: everybody will be free to reassign also these keys in USER mode.

* I was told the "emergency off" solution for an early IBM mainframe was an axe for cutting the mains cable. That's the same kind of quick and dirty solution - it works for sure but no reasonable European would even dare to propose something like that - though I doubt that example reflects real history. Maybe somebody here can confirm that.

I apologize for such a long post but hope to have explained the facts that apparently need to be explained.

d:-)