newRPL: Output to a text console

[Claudio L.]

One of the things I don't like much about RPL is that the display can only be used temporarily, and you have to FREEZE it so the user can see it. After that, everything you displayed is immediately lost.

So here's an idea (not exactly a *new* idea since text consoles have been around for quite some time...): Add a text console, something like PICT but for text. You can clear it, output as much formatted text as you want, then leave it there for the user to see it (whenever he wants!). There would have to be a console viewer, just like there is a PICT viewer. The contents of the console should be able to be copied to the stack, the clipboard and/or saved to a text file on the SD card.

And the big question: what for?
* Most old Fortran and BASIC programs use PRINT and similar to a console, so it should make it simpler to port code from other platforms to newRPL.
* The user can write programs that produce formatted text output that can be saved to SD card and printed on a PC to document the calculations made. Very often I find myself redoing something in Excel that I already have finished on the calc, just because I need to document it.


Discussion is open: is this something worth putting time on?