On 5 January 2014 17:30, dwight <dkelvey at hotmail.com> wrote:
Sorry about the format ( Outlook )
Order of operations becomes much more important as
things become more abstract. It is hard to describe in simples
math problems. Being able to tell the computer what to do and in what
exact order you expect it to be done can make quite a difference
when creating correct code.
In most all case, when one abstracts operations, one tends to order
them in the sequence they are expected to be done. Even in languages
that have algebraic notation for math. Crossing between the two is
clumsy.
I'm sure you're right, but the thing is, I am not "creating correct
code." I am not creating code at all. I (was, at the time) a schoolkid
doing chemistry and biology, and later, an undergrad doing biology.
I wrote a single program in my entire degree (apart from my option
Fortran course). It did a chi-squared text on my Sinclair Spectrum (in
ZX BASIC). I was the only person on my course in my year to have my
own computer and to occasionally use it for coursework. (Mostly, it
was a wordprocessor.)
So perhaps this explains the fondness and elitism about HP calculators
and RPN: that they are good for programmers. I was not and am not and
have never been a programmer, so that is a virtue that was and is
completely wasted on me.
--
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