43s status

[rprosperi]

(01-25-2015 12:33 AM)Bit Wrote:  If a nice suite of financial functions is included, it could even be marketed for the folks using the 12C.

I agree that adding TVM (and other financial Fns) to the 43S will broaden it's appeal to MANY more potential customers. If even a miniscule fraction of those millions of 12C customers are looking for a better platform, we could instantly double, triple, etc, demand for this machine.

This has been suggested in the past (early 31S spec discussions) but indeed was too far from those core goals, but I think fits nicely into the 43S scope, so I for one was quietly happy to see it appear in Walter's recent layouts.

I agree it's of lower priority than the core scientific functions, but would suggest basic financial functions are far more useful, and desirable, to a much larger group of potential customers than some of the exotic mathematical features in the 34s even now. Those features surely appeal significantly to a small but passionate group of us here, but the long-term success of the 43S (and successors?) will almost certainly depend on sales volume.

Walter points out correctly that TVM, etc. is beyond current competence (at least proven competence) but I do not think it is truly beyond the skills available on the current (and growing) team, plus other contributors on this forum (cough, Gene...).

Unlike scientific, engineering and mathematical domains, where calculators have continually expanded features, capabilities and even precision over the years, the financial applications have changed little since the 12C- or maybe even 17B-era. I think these applications are well defined and understood, and there is no need for large investments of time on the UI/Specs. That said, testing is surely a challenge as most of us (MoHPC forum-ers) are more interested in other areas. The good news is that there is a wealth of sample problem data to test with in the endless manuals, books and prior threads here. I would volunteer to do testing in this area.

Walter, is it possible to post the current state of the 43S top-level specs and layouts in a new thread? As it appears we are getting ever closer to test hardware, it is useful for the interested members to refresh. I noted that the recent layout (left vs right, etc.) discussions involved many comments that reflected folks didn't understand (or forgot) some basics such as the dynamic menu structure.

Lastly, if functions such as TVM are to be considered, would they be "native" (C code, part of the core) or similar to the user-code libraries as in some of the 34S features?