19 Jun
2011
19 Jun
'11
11:28 a.m.
Manifest in the 70's as HP vs TI.
Over here, TI calcualtros were not particularly common. The common
brand
was (and is, I guess) Casio.
Of course those of us who prefer RPN bought HPs.
I never used them much, but the hidden state in infix calculators
didn't inspire confidence during a calculation.
There is state in an RPN calculator too, of course - the stack - but it
is reviewable at any time, you can check all the intermediate results
for saneness as you go.
Many more recent HPs has as large a stack as you want (limited by memory
only) and display the top 4 or 5 stack levels on a multi-line LCD. Yes
there can be 'hidden state' (Stakc levels beyond those) but (a) generally
it's the tope few levels you are interested in and (b) you can scroll up
and down the stack wit hthe arrow kleys anyway.
I still love my little HP-21.
I asusme that's the original Woodstock one (from 1975 or thereabouts). I
ahve one, I've repaired many more...
-tony