For a long time i have been looking for a decent scientific calculator to use on my computer. Apart from the ordinary capabilities, I need binary arithmetic (binary, decimal, octal and hexadecimal input/output) with usual logic operators. And it'd be nice if it were stack-oriented (RPN, as HP48 calculators).
Today I was programming something and I wished I had my HP48 with me. I couldn't find anything decent on the web, so I set to try the emacs calc. And there it was, with all the features I needed.
Tags: emacs hp48 rpn
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This is the repository of my wild thoughts, general comments and ideas that I don't have the time to actually work on.
3 comments:
Why don't you use a HP48/49 emulator?
I've tried it, but that's just not "it". AFAIR, I couldn't copy/paste text between the emulator and other calculators. It was sloppy and it didn't catch each keystroke. I had to "remap" the keys all the time (i.e. see the picture for e.g. "SIN", read the letter, press the letter.. on the real calc this is just a single operation: press the key you see).
Bottom line: it was much less convenient to use than the real thing. Even to the point of being less convenient than dc/bc.
Not RPN, but decidedly excellent is "calc": http://www.isthe.com/chongo/tech/comp/calc/.
Features include: arbitrary precision arithmetic, easy definition of user-defined functions, C-like syntax (e.g. 0xNNN and 0NNN work like in C, as do "for" and "while" loops, braces are used for delimiting blocks, etc) and operators.
It works and feels like "bc done right". In Debian it is known as "apcalc" to avoid confusion with the unrelated Emacs package of the same name.
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