Comment by peatmoss | Hacker News Reader

Comment by peatmoss | Hacker News Reader

Related story (the author describing the TI monopoly jogged my memory): I am part of the generation that was required to buy a big blue or black graphing calculator. As a high schooler I was indignant that we were being told to buy from just one company. So, based on reviews posted in a variety of online forums, I bought an HP-48 instead of the specified TI.

After telling all my friends that my new calculator was going to be amazing, I got it home, pulled it out of the box, turned it on, tried to add two numbers, and failed. After the sinking feeling passed, I started in to figuring out what I had determined the root-problem was: Reverse Polish Notation. A couple years of math and physics classes were then spent trying desperately to not let on to my peers or teachers that I had no idea how to do the thing that was being taught. I'd frequently spent time scouring the Internet and HP-48 menus to replicate what I'd seen in class.

But man did I love that calculator. The RPN stopped being a liability, and became an asset. And, the equation library saved my bacon on occasion.

Similar situation here. It was... interesting going through high school and then college where they recommended a different calculator, and being one of the 1-3 people in class that didn't have the recommended[1] calculator. Certain operations took a bit longer, but also homework and tests were catered towards the known capabilities of the expected calculator, leading to a lot of manual and semi-manual solving of things other people zipped through with more calculator assistance.

On one hand, that gives you a pretty good understanding of what's actually going on. You're supposed to have that anyway, but it's easy to bumble through an assignment without a firm grasp of the mechanics if you have a lot of assistance. On the other hand, it led to the time and effort for some homework assignments being high enough that I chose not to complete them and focus on other homework.

1: A Casio in high school, TI in college.

Yes, I used and still have the HP48SX. It got me through college as a math major and then graduate school as well. And the fact that people can't understand RPN doesn't speak well to the caliber of the students in higher education.

It's an interesting mental litmus test. Opposition to RPN is rarely about inability or carefully considered dislike. It's mostly about rejection of difference.

Same deal with lisp syntax. Beginners take to Racket's parens easily, but (some) veteran programmers are dispositionally unwilling to even attempt to see the rationale beyond the learned aesthetics, even when there's so much to gain.

Calculators without RPN feel like a joke after an HP 48. The keys are a sheer tactile delight, too!

Oh yeah! The keys were amazing. They rank right up there with popping bubble wrap in terms of satisfaction they bring. They had a crazy high activation force and zero ambiguity as to whether or not they had clicked.

I still have my HP42s, wouldn't sell it for the world. Although I keep it safe in a drawer at home and use Free42 on iOS. It's incredibly handy.

RPN is one of those many short-but-steep learning curves that is oh so worth it once you get it (off the top of my head, regex is another)

In France TI and Casio were pretty much neck-to-neck. And the occasional weird guy with his HP-48.

So it wasn't a monopoly, more like a duopoly.

My HP-28s is still on my desk. Doesn't get the use that it used to, but it's still the one that works for me.

Reverse Polish Notation is AWESOME!

Honestly I still use my HP 48GX whenever I need a calculator.

It's so very useful for adding up columns of numbers when doing accounting and bookkeeping!

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