Calculators you regret buying?

[Valentin Albillo]

.
Hi, Maximilian,

(12-10-2023 08:14 PM)Maximilian Hohmann Wrote:  my most memorable regret ever was an HP-48SX. I had read so much praise [...] But what a delusion! [...] and last but least, the abomination of RPL as a programming language. After trying it out for about two hours (one hour would already have been an inexcusable waste of lifetime…) I removed the batteries and never put them back in. This horrible experience dates back almost 20 years but I am still traumatized ;-)

+1

I fully agree, coincide and concur: RPL is an unholy abomination. Quoting myself from this 2018 thread:

"The problem with RePeLent is that it's almost impossible to not write unfathomable "garbage" even if you're trying hard not to be cryptic, and in any case the moment you resort to stack juggling and stack acrobatics for the sake of efficiency you'll immediately plunge head on on cryptography. [...] Stack juggling is virtually incompatible with "readability".

[... about Jupiter ACE's version of FORTH but fully applies to RPL as well ... ] [it] proved to be just too cryptic, it forced would-be programmers to take care of the low-level details (stacks, [...], etc) which is precisely the kind of thing a decent language should take care of so that the programmer can concentrate on the algorithms and high-level details of the task to solve, [...]


It's the programming language the one which should be working for me and releasing me of the low-level drudgery, not the other way around."

As for the OP's question I've never regretted buying a calculator because I first inform myself about its characteristics and look for sample code, timings, brochures, articles, opinions, etc. so I fully know what to expect and thus I've never been negatively surprised.

For instance, I never bought a TI calc several decades ago because I quickly realized they were physically inferior, feeble and unreliable, and I wouldn't touch AOS with a 10-ft pole.

Best regards.
V.