How to browse this forum randomly

[pier4r]

It may help people that want to read slowly a lot but do not want to keep a list of things to read ready. A random pick may help although over time collision will grow and "blanks" will happens. Well for collisions, "repetita iuvant" especially in forums where the majority of the posts are interesting (if this would be spam valley, it wouldn't help); unless one has a great memory.

Many will find this unneeded, but it helps at least me so I'll share. The same can be applied for other similar digital places where just a number is enough.

1. check the view todays posts, then click one of the links that reports a new thread (most likely something with few reply, although this is not necessarily true). That thread will give you a value near the current upper bound of the threads identificators in the mybb database. See for example: https://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-15724.html , the id is the number 15724.
2. Pick a calculator with a program that returns a random number between 1 and 15724 . Or maybe go over https://www.random.org/integers/
3. get the number and put in the address bar the link http://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-<...e>.html
4. rinse and repeat if needed.

Of course one could also make a little program that already provides the link.

For example just testing it, I got an interesting thread: https://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-15587.html where I remembered the explorations done with DavidM using his LSHUF https://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-8555.html and here https://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-7955.html (buried somewhere in that long thread). Without forgetting the list processing https://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-8209.html .

About vector/string processing . I still have it in the back of my mind, but I didn't started collecting serious problems (ok for the vectors some are already there: https://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-12424.html but with little interest)

[pinkman]

Nice trick the random search!

I always begin with “today’s posts”, then I often check for old threads in the Prime section, there are good problems to solve.

[Valentin Albillo]

.
Hi, pier4r:

(10-13-2020 07:08 PM)pier4r Wrote:  2. Pick a calculator with a program that returns a random number between 1 and 15724 .

Much simpler: no program needed, just pick any calculator thas has a 'random number' function, use it to generate a random number and multiply it by 15724.

Regards.
V.

P.S.: Frankly, I wouldn't want to read a "random" article because a large percentage of them would hold no interest for me at all, being either hardware-related, RPL-related, or Prime-related, not to mention "off topic" ones. Others' mileage will surely vary.

[EdS2]

.
Another approach is to mutate the number of a thread: knock a digit off, substitute a digit.

If, instead, you start with the link to a post, you can pick a random post, which will bias the results towards longer threads. Which might be more interesting (or merely more.)

Here's what I found:
https://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/post-121573.html

[EdS2]

.
Another approach: select a person of interest, click FIND to search for their posts, pick a random page (page 5 is random) and random thread on that page (the thread half way down is random.)

Here's what I found:
https://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-14307.html
https://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-14349.html
https://www.hpmuseum.org/forum/thread-12373.html

[Maximilian Hohmann]

Hello!

(10-13-2020 11:14 PM)Valentin Albillo Wrote:  P.S.: Frankly, I wouldn't want to read a "random" article because a large percentage of them would hold no interest for me at all, being either hardware-related, RPL-related, or Prime-related, not to mention "off topic" ones. Others' mileage will surely vary.

Same here. I am not much interested in anything HP-41 related nor RPL, simulators, emulators, modern recreations of HP calculators, smartphone apps or links to blog entries. But I like to read off-topic stuff because this is where you learn a lot about the people around here. For my taste there are way too few off-topic threads!

Regards
Max

[toml_12953]

(10-13-2020 11:14 PM)Valentin Albillo Wrote:  P.S.: Frankly, I wouldn't want to read a "random" article because a large percentage of them would hold no interest for me at all, being either hardware-related, RPL-related, or Prime-related, not to mention "off topic" ones.

What's left?

[grsbanks]

(10-14-2020 11:56 AM)toml_12953 Wrote:  What's left?

Right. And right is wrong...

[Massimo Gnerucci]

(10-14-2020 12:53 PM)grsbanks Wrote:  

(10-14-2020 11:56 AM)toml_12953 Wrote:  What's left?

Right. And right is wrong...

Oommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

[Valentin Albillo]

(10-14-2020 11:56 AM)toml_12953 Wrote:  

(10-13-2020 11:14 PM)Valentin Albillo Wrote:  P.S.: Frankly, I wouldn't want to read a "random" article because a large percentage of them would hold no interest for me at all, being either hardware-related, RPL-related, or Prime-related, not to mention "off topic" ones.

What's left?

Well, let's see:

• anything having to do with RPN programming for all classic RPN models including the Voyagers, HP-41 Series, HP-42S, ...
• anything having to do with HP-71B/75C programming in BASIC/Assembler/FORTH,
• anything having to do with the various Modules and Application ROMs and Solutions Books for all those calcs,
• anything having to do with emulators and simulators for all those calcs (such as Nonpareil, Emu42, Emu71/DOS and Emu71/Win, Free42, etc.) in all operating systems (Win, iOS, Android, Linux, whatever),
• anything having to do with math,
• anything having to do with algorithms, including game algorithms,
• anything having to do with challenges, quizs, puzzles,
• anything having to do with calc-related manuals, docs, journals, magazines, publications, pictures, brochures, tutorials,
• anything having to do with Series 80 models (HP-85/86/87, etc), HP-150, Series 9800 models (9816/26/36),
• anything having to do with worthwhile vintage non-HP calcs such as vintage Pocket Computers from SHARP and CASIO,
• ...

... for starters.

V.