HP Prime. The programmer dream machine

[toml_12953]

(09-19-2014 07:25 PM)Bill Zimmerly Wrote:  

(09-19-2014 05:05 PM)Francois Lanciault Wrote:  But programming a HP-50G is no where as easy as programming the prime.

That is the only place where I disagree with you, and that is rooted in the fact that people are different.

I, for example, have never seen a Pascal-like language that can compete with the power and ease of use of a stack-based language such as RPL or FORTH.

Other than that, I agree 100% with the rest of your observations - the Prime is indeed an excellent programming environment for calculator programming.

Sigh ... if only the same hardware and help system were running RPL too. (The vastly expanded memory is the reason that so much programmer assistance can be provided with the base language.)

I have been programming in procedural languages (FORTRAN, BASIC, COBOL, PL/I, etc.) since 1965. They match the way I think, step by step. I can write programs in RPL with a little difficulty but if I try to read them after a few weeks? Fuggedaboudit! HP Prime's language is just about perfect for me. Not only can I write programs easily, but I can look at old programs I've written and figure them out easily - even with sparse or no comments.

Chacun à son goût, as my grand-père used to say. I never knew what he was talking about!

Tom L