Every decent OS I’ve ever had the pleasure of using came with a basic calculator program, but I realized a few weeks ago that I’ve never seen one in BeOS. What about including one with Haiku? I don’t think it’d seem like that hard of a program to do; maybe someone with the proper programming knowledge could tackle this? Something along the lines of Windows’ calculator maybe.
Edit: I found a nice program on BeBits here that seems like it fits the bill, though it’s closed-source. If anyone else here would like to see this included in Haiku, I could contact the author and see if he’s willing to release the source code under the MIT license.
IMO, CoveredCalc is too complex, what with skinning and all. If we bundle a calculator, I think it needs to stay in line with the rest of the bundled apps: they are simple, but they do their simple job very well.
I’m talking almost a clone of the Windows calculator; you’d have basic arithmetic, base conversions (so handy!), but not much more.
I'm talking almost a clone of the Windows calculator; you'd have basic arithmetic, base conversions (so handy!), but not much more.
If you clone poorly cloned, most what you can get is a poor clone. Stop talking about windows calculator, it sucks a lot and even you understand it!
Simple calculator which would work with reverse polish notation would be everything you need. Or then one with polish/albegraic notation which resembles command line.
I don’t think haiku should have something useless. Simpilicity doesn’t mean (m$ nonusable)feature bloat.
Malthus, we can only use it if it’s under the MIT or BSD license. (Okay, technically we COULD use it the way we use the binutils, but ideally it needs to be MIT/BSD.)
Anyway, can you post a link of where we might find it? Because, as you said, the one on BeBits is broken.
Cheery wrote:
j_freeman wrote:
I'm talking almost a clone of the Windows calculator; you'd have basic arithmetic, base conversions (so handy!), but not much more.
If you clone poorly cloned, most what you can get is a poor clone. Stop talking about windows calculator, it sucks a lot and even you understand it!
Actually I’m a huge fan of the Windows calculator. It has everything that I need; I don’t use RPN–I hate it with a passion. Would be a nice feature to have in our calculator, though.
I guess we should start incorporating Gaussian blur and other filters into ShowImage, too? :roll:
On the licensing thing, it’s interesting to note that while the author calls it freeware in the supporting documentation, there’s no formal copyright or license statement in the code itself.
It’s incredibly simple, still very usable calculator architecture. The thing has less noise than usual albegraic calculator has. Ended to use them after I learned forth. I think I’ll never buy any calculator which doesn’t support it. And retain away from using albegraic notation if I can only use RPN.
The idea is simply like this: You have number stack, you have number paddle, with most functions it has.
When you want to know what 123 * 222 is, you press: 1 2 3 <enter> 2 2 2 *
Then the result appears on the top of stack. (27 306)
Yeah, my dad does engineering/structural steel sort of work and he swears by it. He’s always tried to get me to use it, but I just can’t–too discontinuous to how I deal with algebra… plus I’m lazy. :lol:
Anyway, I asked him what he calls it; he didn’t really have a name for it, but when I mentioned "Reverse Polish notation" he said, yeah, some people call it that but they (businesses like HP I guess) had to drop it because it knocks the Polish: If Reverse Polish (i.e. Not Polish) Notation is the superior way, then the Polish way must be the inferior, so it’s basically calling the Polish idiots. Probably why Ekdahl always saw it called "postfix" in his math books.
Anyway, I asked him what he calls it; he didn't really have a name for it, but when I mentioned "Reverse Polish notation" he said, yeah, some people call it that but they (businesses like HP I guess) had to drop it because it knocks the Polish: If Reverse Polish (i.e. Not Polish) Notation is the superior way, then the Polish way must be the inferior, so it's basically calling the Polish idiots. Probably why Ekdahl always saw it called "postfix" in his math books.
It’s called Reverse Polish Notation because it’s the opposite order from Polish Notation, the reversal is purely a convenience for calculators and other computing devices, and the fundamental concept invented by Jan Łukasiewicz (a Pole and hence the origin of the description "Polish" for his notation) is by far the more important aspect.
Urban legend sites like Snopes.com can fill you in on dozens of similar ignorant claims about the supposedly unpleasant origins or meanings of words or phrases.
When you wrote that "some people … had to drop it", did you bother to look whether this was actually true? Hewlett Packard’s web site has lots of mentions of Reverse Polish Notation, as do other calculator manufacturers, mathematicians and so on.
j_freeman, if you want a fast-to-use -calculator which is unambiguous, forget your programmer virtue for a while and learn to use it. It really makes you feel that albegraic notation is only for papers.
Thought, I think nobody has ever tried to actually calculate math in RPN syntax, on paper. It’d may be intresting to see what kind of math rules you can invent on such language…
Cheery, I know I’d probably be better off in the long run… but I don’t use calculators much. Just occasionally for basic arithmetic. If I start doing the type of work my dad does more, then I’ll have to start using it… as these Jobbers won’t accept anything but RPN.
NoHaikuForMe wrote:
j_freeman wrote:
Anyway, I asked him what he calls it; he didn't really have a name for it, but when I mentioned "Reverse Polish notation" he said, yeah, some people call it that but they (businesses like HP I guess) had to drop it because it knocks the Polish: If Reverse Polish (i.e. Not Polish) Notation is the superior way, then the Polish way must be the inferior, so it's basically calling the Polish idiots. Probably why Ekdahl always saw it called "postfix" in his math books.
It’s called Reverse Polish Notation because it’s the opposite order from Polish Notation, the reversal is purely a convenience for calculators and other computing devices, and the fundamental concept invented by Jan Łukasiewicz (a Pole and hence the origin of the description "Polish" for his notation) is by far the more important aspect.
Urban legend sites like Snopes.com can fill you in on dozens of similar ignorant claims about the supposedly unpleasant origins or meanings of words or phrases.
When you wrote that "some people … had to drop it", did you bother to look whether this was actually true? Hewlett Packard’s web site has lots of mentions of Reverse Polish Notation, as do other calculator manufacturers, mathematicians and so on.
What I wrote is merely a paraphrasal of what my dad told me. I was never implying that it was, or expousing it as, the truth; only anecdotal. Hope you got your ego boost, though. 8)
Interesting stuff anyway. Next time, don’t come off so arrogant when you show people the error of their ways; we all know something that the general population believes to the contrary. Cheers!
On an unrelated (i.e. related) note, looks like Malthus’ choice was picked as the calculator. I haven’t verified this, but the source code references Mr. Wagner, who is the author of Calc++. Anyone had a chance to try a recent revision and see?
Would be a nice feature to have in our calculator, though.