WP 34S: Quick access to bitwise operations as on the 16C

[Bit]

(01-25-2015 11:09 PM)PANAMATIK Wrote:  

(01-25-2015 10:34 PM)Bit Wrote:  The WP 34S provides a comprehensive set of bitwise operations but most are only accessible via catalogs, which is quite slow, especially if you often use more than just one such operation and cannot rely on the catalog remembering the last position. Fortunately there are plenty of unassigned keyboard positions in integer mode that can be used to provide quick access to bitwise operations without removing existing functions. I've designed a layout for bitwise operations that I believe is logical and easy to learn:

I cannot comment all your ideas in detail, but generally it is a very good approach to add programmers features and binary arithmetic to the WP34S in integer mode. Already its early intention was to include the HP16C and why not going further. What I need primarily as a programmer is the fast and easy conversion from Hex to decimal in both directions with 16-bit and 32-bit word size in signed and unsigned mode. I never need 1s complement mode, always 2s complement. The binary arithmetic functions are very useful too. I would agree that shift by one on a hot key is much easier to use than shift n on a key combination. One could ask, why were these functions not already integrated in the WP34S? it is a logical step to use free buttons for them. I hope there will be enough ROM left for your implementation.

Please go on with your approach. I really like it.

Added: Hold On! It seems you already implemented that. I promise, that I will test it this week.

Bernhard

Yes, everything is ready and working already, the only thing that remains is possibly tweaking the layout further if someone can suggest an improvement. The size of the firmware only increased by approximately 120 bytes so that's unlikely to be a problem.

I'll be very interested in your feedback once you've tried it out.