{"id":532,"date":"2009-03-05T14:43:15","date_gmt":"2009-03-05T22:43:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nomadicminds.org\/blogs\/?p=532"},"modified":"2009-03-30T22:22:54","modified_gmt":"2009-03-31T06:22:54","slug":"another-end-of-an-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.nomadicminds.org\/blogs\/2009\/03\/another-end-of-an-era\/","title":{"rendered":"(Another) End of an Era"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/i>”<\/p>\n

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<\/a> will conclude the same, to eBay it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n

This is not a normal calculator. It is a Reversed Polish Notation<\/a> one. Every scientists and engineers knows that mathematical notations are not consistent. Arithmetic operators are placed, mostly, in between the operands (5 = 3 + 2)<\/i>. Functional operators, on the other hand, are in the beginning and their operands usually in parenthesis (y = f(x))<\/i>. 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?<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

In the mean time, I will write some Scheme<\/a><\/i> programs to get over my depression.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[195,197,196],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.nomadicminds.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.nomadicminds.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.nomadicminds.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nomadicminds.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nomadicminds.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=532"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.nomadicminds.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":544,"href":"http:\/\/www.nomadicminds.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532\/revisions\/544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.nomadicminds.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nomadicminds.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nomadicminds.org\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}