When I was using TurboPascal and doing a lot of numerical 2-D integrations
with complex numbers, I actually wrote a little library module to calculate
with complex numbers as if I was using an RPN calculator. So you could
push a complex number on the stack, pop it off, multiply or add the two
numbers on the stack bottom, etc. At that time TurboPascal did not have
complex numbers of its own, IIRC. If N1 and N2 were two complex numbers
you could write, for example (based on hazy memories from long ago):
push(N1)
push(N2)
CMul()
{ and so forth, pun intended }
I enjoyed using the library because it was so easy for me to write and
debug calculations. I just pictured how I would do the calculation on my
HP calculator and walked through the steps. I timed it once, and the extra
overhead of using the stack library compared with a hand-crafted sequence
of operations was about 25% (I'm sure my implementation could have been
improved, it was pretty brute-force). But the ease of writing the
calculation and debugging it - the RPN library won hands down.
On Monday, May 1, 2023 at 9:02:49 AM UTC-4 jkn wrote:
> I got to play with a then- just out Hewlett Packard HP-67 RPN calculator
> at the age of around 14. It blew my mind ... and may well have directly led
> to me doing what I do to this day.
>
> J^n
>
> On Sunday, April 30, 2023 at 5:59:34 PM UTC+1 tbp1...@gmail.com wrote:
>
>> RPCalc is a recent discovery for me. As originally written, it runs as a
>> standalone program, and requires Qt5. You don't need to use the installer
>> package for Windows. Just download the Linux tarball, decompress it, and
>> navigate to the "source" directory. The file to run is - surprise! -
>> rpcalc.py. It seems to do everything I want from an RPN calculator, except
>> that copying the stack bottom is awkward.
>>
>> To adapt it for Leo, one change was to combine all the source files into
>> one Leo @file tree. Another was to change the imports to use leoQt, which
>> makes it easier to adapt to Qt5 vs Qt6, and anyway is essential if the
>> program is to run in a Leo frame. I'm still finding little things that
>> aren't working for both Qt5 and Qt6 - mostly enums and flags - but I'm
>> making progress. But overall, most of the functionality works and the thing
>> is usable as it stands. I'll post an updated outline soon, and after some
>> more work it should be ready to appear in the Leo repo.
>>
>> On Sunday, April 30, 2023 at 11:55:06 AM UTC-4 jkn wrote:
>>
>> I have wondered about suggesting something like this for a while, so
>> thank you Thomas. My 'main' editor has a simple HP calculator built into it
>> and it was an easy step to consider one for Leo.
>>
>> I didn't know about RPNCalc (I have some Android RPN apps on my phone, as
>> well as a real HP-35s), but it sounds like a good choice.
>>
>>
>> I've used HP RPN calculators since way back in HP-45 days. I liked
>> the HP-25C even better, and finally ended up using an HP-15C. Mine still
>> works though it's slightly misplaced just now. On my computer I've been
>> using Free42, which seems to me to be a good balance between readability,
>> complexity, and capability. Now it looks like RPCalc will be taking over
>> from Free42.
>>
>>
>> I will take a look at this shortly - thanks.
>>
>> J^n
>>
>>
>> On Sunday, April 30, 2023 at 12:03:14 PM UTC+1 Edward K. Ream wrote:
>>
>> On Sat, Apr 29, 2023 at 12:42 PM Thomas Passin <tbp1...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> I have adapted the open-source *RPCalc* calculator to run in a tab in
>> the Leo log frame. This calculator is a Reverse Polish Notation (RPN)
>> style calculator, which IMHO is much better than the algebraic-entry
>> type. It is the type of calculator that Hewlett-Packard made famous.
>>
>>
>> Thanks for this work, Thomas. The calculator appears as expected for me.
>>
>> PR #3301 <https://github.com/leo-editor/leo-editor/pull/3301> is a draft
>> containing the files you mention. It's a good start. The PR lists three
>> problems.
>>
>> Edward
>>
>>
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