Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2006 13:19:07 -0400 From: Allison <ajp166 at bellatlantic.net> Subject: Re: Octal -------------------------- No problem; just move the printer! ;-> The Windows Calculator (am I breaking any rules here? :) does indeed have shortcomings, but there are some pretty useful others out there with all your logic functions, 4/8/16/32 bit modes, ASCII and unit conversions, etc. And for accounting stuff, a printing calc is indeed useful; use one myself for certain things. I was just musing that in general people seem to be more comfortable with calculators (even non-printing ones) than computer versions. (And looking for and correcting errors in long columns of figures is a lot more convenient in a spreadsheet.) Aw, c'mon Allison (and Tony); someone asked whether anyone still had a TI Programmer and I replied, yes, I do but generally use the Windows calculator instead (because of some of the same shortcomings you yourself mentioned); aside from the obligatory "*I* don't _use_ Winblows" replies there were one or two saying that it and computer calcs in general were "a pain" ("can't see the point") and I asked why. I didn't say that they were "better" or that you should throw your pocket calc away and use a laptop when you're away from your desk. Just that for the usual _programming_ stuff, converting bases & doing hex/octal/binary arithmetic, it's convenient to have a calculator right there on the same keyboard that you're programming on (and perhaps one or two people weren't aware that the Win Calc has hex & binary (and octal, the thread of this discussion) modes; I know that I didn't realize it until well into W98). Sheesh... mike