HP Prime or HP 50g

[Jake Schwartz]

(12-03-2020 11:30 PM)CMarangon Wrote:  HP Prime runned out of the traditional line of hp calculators "HP48 series and of HP calculators" tradition!

That makes me think of the original introduction of the 28C in 1987, which ultimately evolved into the 48SX in 1990. Comparing the 41 series (or even the 42S) to the 28/48 and going from RPN to RPL was probably as large a break in HP-calc "tradition" as the jump from the 50g to the Prime. In fact, that RPN-to-RPL jump was the reason for Bill Wickes' very useful 1990 book, "HP41/48 Transitions". At the time, people were very emotional regarding learning RPL and many were reluctant to make the significant mental leap. I think that reluctance was partially responsible for the birth of the WP-34S/31S and ultimately the current crop of SwissMicros machines. At this point, the RPL generation of machines are currently "in the rear-view mirror", while the RPN ones continue to be reborn. (I recognize that the continuing development of NewRPL might be represent a contradiction to this.)

Jake

[OlidaBel]

(03-19-2021 02:43 PM)Jake Schwartz Wrote:  That makes me think of the original introduction of the 28C in 1987, which ultimately evolved into the 48SX in 1990. Comparing the 41 series (or even the 42S) to the 28/48 and going from RPN to RPL was probably as large a break in HP-calc "tradition" as the jump from the 50g to the Prime. In fact, that RPN-to-RPL jump was the reason for Bill Wickes' very useful 1990 book, "HP41/48 Transitions". At the time, people were very emotional regarding learning RPL and many were reluctant to make the significant mental leap.

Hi Jake. I don't agree about the comparison :
Going from a pure RPN "4 levels stack" to an infinite stack RPL calculator was like an enhanced upgrade, mentally it was almost the same flexible logic we appreciate, plus many things.
It was still possible to use an 48GX like a classic RPN HP, yet it required some mental efforts to discover the new (object) features ;-)
I switched from 15C to 28C.
Today (well, for me), comparing 48GX and Prime is a totally new experience, with pro's (speed/colour screen) and con's (fluo key labels/no longer centered on the stack).
The unified stack/RPL logic is not possible anymore, I don't think emotion is the main reason people could regret RPL systems. There was also some aestetics in the way RPL calculators work (as long as you don't have to debug your scrambled code ;-)).