"The Translucent Amoebae" <transamoebae@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
> What i would really like; is for my MacBook to have a built in
> programming language that's as easy to use as RPL ( The programming
> language used by my HP48 programmable calculator ) It is the easiest
> and most intuitive programming language i've ever seen...
> Of course; it's a long way from the 'Plain English' programming
> language that should have become available 20 years ago...
> i think it's obvious that the computer manufacturers and software
> companies have been working very hard to convince people that
> programming is 'hard' and making the programming languages that are
> available just about impossible to use, and very expensive to
> boot...!!!
I think you mean "RPN" (Reverse Polish Notation) from the Polish
logician Jan Lukasiewicz who invented Polish Notation. RPN is more
efficient than algebraic logic. RPN is also much more suitable as a
programming language than is algebraic. I've professionally used
over 40 programming languages, and IMHO programming an algebraic
calculator is as clumsy as it gets. In fact, stack based languages
like Lisp work similarly to programming an RPN calculator. Since I
first saw the HP35 in the early 1970's, I've wanted nothing but RPN
calculators, and HP always made the best. I have two HP48's myself,
and several other HP calculators. I remember plunking down $849.60
($799 + tax) cash to buy an HP65, the world's first programmable
pocket calculator. I still have listings of the programs I wrote for
it using those "HP-65 Program Forms" notebooks. I also have my old
issues of the "HP-65 Key Note" newsletter, later changed to "HP Key
Notes".
I also remember using my HP97 in a matrix algebra class around 1976.
The professor (a neat guy, dean of the university math department,
with a PhD from MIT, who had a goatee and came to class in sweat****rt
& sandals) was walking us through numerically solving a 5x5 matrix on
the blackboard. He had written out the equations, and was waiting to
write each new value on the board as they were laboriously calculated
by class members on their pocket calculators. There was a delay of
several seconds as each new value was calculated. While the class
calculated the first values, I was programming all the equations into
my HP97. I then recalculated the first few values the class had done
to verify my programming, and started calling them off as quickly as
the professor could write them down. This caused quite a stir, and
the professor stopped the class to see how I was doing it. I had to
give them a demonstration of the calculator and the little built-in
magnetic card reader/writer. He and the class were amazed that such
power, even I/O to permanent storage, was available in a pocket
calculator. I got an 'A' for the course. :-)
But I disagree that RPN is more intuitive for the average person. I
suspect because algebraic logic uses the same expressions we learn in
algebra, people seem to like that method. You have to teach a person
to use RPN, though once you do, they usually never look back. But the
fact is that HP has been backing away from RPN for a number of years,
and I'm sure it's because the majority of people would rather use a
clunky, less efficient system they know than bother to learn a new
and better one. So goes a society in which the high priorities are
what tunes can be downloaded to their iPods, and the latest hot
performers.
--
Judson McClendon judmc@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(remove zero)
Sun Valley Systems http://sunvaley.com
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
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