(Another) End of an Era

It is a gadget worthy of every nerdy bits of me. I read the manual, practiced, and familiarized myself with all built-in functions and every details. There was no WWW then. I actually researched, not just searched, the programming tips. Since there is no external interface (only an IR port), I hand-entered all programs too. This is why I watch “The Big Bang Theory.”

The battery ran out. I was shocked that I did not even know when that happened. As I replaced the batteries and wiped clean this once loved instrument. I realized the only value left is sentimental. It is logical, as Sheldon will conclude the same, to eBay it.

This is not a normal calculator. It is a Reversed Polish Notation one. Every scientists and engineers knows that mathematical notations are not consistent. Arithmetic operators are placed, mostly, in between the operands (5 = 3 + 2). Functional operators, on the other hand, are in the beginning and their operands usually in parenthesis (y = f(x)). RPN solved this problem and essentially eliminated parenthesis and equal sign in computational notation. How pure and logical! Of course, sometime a less, ahem, focused person can get confused on which operands go with which operator. But we are not concerned with those people. Aren’t we?

HP-42S is near, or at, the pinnacle of RPN calculators. After this model, HP, I think, ceded the market to TI and stopped making pure RPN models. I have sold it on eBay, with sadness, at a good price.

In the mean time, I will write some Scheme programs to get over my depression.