Calculator Programming
Programmable calculators allow the user to write and store programs in the calculator in order to solve difficult problems or automate an elaborate procedure.
Programming capability appears most commonly (although not exclusively) in graphing calculators, as the larger screen allows multiple lines of source code to be viewed simultaneously (i.e., without having to scroll to the next/previous display line). Originally, calculator programming had to be done in the calculator's own command language, but as calculator hackers discovered ways to bypass the main interface of the calculators and write assembly language programs, calculator companies (particularly Texas Instruments) began to support native-mode programming on their calculator hardware, first revealing the hooks used to enable such code to operate, and later explicitly building in facilities to handle such programs directly from the user interface.
Many programs written for calculators can be found on the internet. Users can download the programs to a personal computer, and then upload them to the calculator using a specialized link cable, infrared wireless link or through a memory card. Sometimes these programs can also be run through emulators on the PC.
One possibility arising from the above is writing interpreters, compilers, and translator programmes for additional languages for programming the machines; BBC Basic has already been ported to the TI-83 and -84 series and other on-board languages and programming tools discussed by many include Fortran, awk, Pascal, Rexx, perl, Common Lisp, Python, tcl, and various Unix shells.
Commonly available programs for calculators include everything from math/science related problem solvers to video games, as well as so-called demos. Much of this code is user-created freeware or even open source, though commercial software, particularly for educational and science/engineering markets, is also available.
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A TI-59 showing one card in the holder on the front of the calculator and another being inserted into the card reader in the side.
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HP-41CX with magnetic card reader and thermal printer
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A complete range of programmable calculators were developed in former USSR. Some of them (like this MK-52), were used even in space missions.
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A 28 year old FX-602P in working condition
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A TI-Nspire CAS Calculator
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HP 50g graphing calculator, with the Equation Editor being used
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Casio ClassPad 300 touch screen calculator
Read more about this topic: Programmable Calculator
Famous quotes containing the words calculator and/or programming:
“Man is a stream whose source is hidden. Our being is descending into us from we know not whence. The most exact calculator has no prescience that somewhat incalculable may not balk the very next moment. I am constrained every moment to acknowledge a higher origin for events than the will I call mine.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“If there is a price to pay for the privilege of spending the early years of child rearing in the driver’s seat, it is our reluctance, our inability, to tolerate being demoted to the backseat. Spurred by our success in programming our children during the preschool years, we may find it difficult to forgo in later states the level of control that once afforded us so much satisfaction.”
—Melinda M. Marshall (20th century)