Feature req: remove programming functions??

[Derell Licht]

One thing that has both amused, and slightly annoyed me, about programmers' calculators, is that they have so much real estate dedicated to programming functions...

When I first started using HP calculators, back in the early 1980s, I was going to college, studying to be an electronics engineer... and the programming functions on my HP calculator were rather magical... but once I started writing real software, in real programming languages (I am expert in C, with over 40 years of experience), I would *never* have considered writing programs on my calculator; I'll write them in C (and later C++), so I can easily distribute the code to other people, debug trivially, and support the programs as required by other users...

So the programming functions on the calculator are *really* obsolete for me, and I would truly love to remove them and clean up the interface a bit...

I wonder if the author might consider adding something like this as an option, which would simply remove the redundant functions from the display, and ignore those orange-button functions???  It seems like it wouldn't be that much work, at least on the Windows interface...

[Chris Roper]

Then look for a non programmable RPN calculator, there are many out there.
Try this for a start RpnCalc - Rpn Calculator - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.efalk.rpncalc&hl=en

Stripping functionality out of an HP Calculator Emulator rather defeats the purpose and the Branding.

Cheers
Chris

P.S. Repeated here as the eMail response Bounced.

[Johan Neven]

Saying you don’t need the programming functions of Free42 or Plus42 because you program in C or C++ on a PC is like saying you don’t need a pocket knife because you have a full toolbox at home. Sometimes, you just want to automate a calculation quickly without firing up a compiler, an IDE, and spending half a day debugging. Plus, on Free42 or Plus42, you don’t get segfaults—at worst, you get a 'Domain Error' and a disappointed look from the machine 😉 .  

Cheers,

Johan.

Op maandag 17 februari 2025 om 02:31:11 UTC+1 schreef derell...@gmail.com:

[Thomas Okken]

For what it's worth, I'm an experienced programmer as well, with 40 years of C, 35 years of C++, and nearly 30 years of Java under my belt. I'm less fluent in shell scripting and Python, but I manage to use those to good effect as well.

And I still program my calculator as well. Sometimes it's just the best tool for the job. That's why I wrote Free42 in the first place: I wanted that tool to be available to me even in situations where I didn't have my physical HP-42S at hand. I searched for existing programmable calculator apps, didn't like what I found, and decided to write my own.

So asking me to remove the very features that define the HP-42S feels a bit... surprising.

But, having said all that, what you're looking for could be achieved using a custom skin. There are a few skins in my collection which expose only part of the functionality that's visible on the HP-42S keyboard. I think they're all four-bangers, though, so they may be too limited for your needs. But a skin with only scientific calculator functionality could be created, and I'd be happy to add it to my collection if someone does create one.

I don't think I'll be the one to create such a skin myself, though. I'm too busy adding functionality. ;-)

[Thomas Okken]

I realize this is just nitpicking, but I can't help myself:

I don't think the HP-42S and Free42 dedicate a lot of keyboard space to programming functions, actually. With the single shift key and 36 other keys, there are 72 assignable positions on the keyboard, and of these, only 7 are used for programming: XEQ, GTO, SST, BST, R/S, PRGM, and PGM.FCN. Most of the programming functions are tucked away in menus.

[Vincent Weber]

Hi,

I too have a significant past as a C++/Java developper, and yet, for me, the interesting thing about a calculator is precisely its programmability. 

I have always thought fascinating the idea of having a programmable computer in my pocket. Starting with the HP-65 and the HP-25, it was exciting to see more power added: BASIC with SHARP computers, powerful Basic with user-defined functions with the HP-71B... and integrated RPN with matrices and complex numbers with the HP-15C then the 42S. 

What I love most with Plus42 is this feature borrowed from the 32SII and the 35S: embbed equations within programs. This makes it real fun. 

Programming is too rare on a calculator nowadays, that's precisely the purpose of Plus42. As Thomas pointed out, the programming functions are quite discrete on the keyboard (even too much, I like clutered keyboards à la 35S). Those feature shall certainly not be removed !!

Cheers,

Vincent

[Derell Licht]

Just a note for all the responders here... I was never requesting that these features actually be removed from the calculator, I just was asking for an *option* to suppress them... certainly the programming could not actually be removed from the calculator, it would not then be a HP42 clone...

However, I'm certainly sympathetic to the author's comments about not wanting to spend time on this, when he'd rather spend time *adding* features...

And in fact, I think a customized skin that just removes the programming labels, would serve my purposes just fine... I will look into that...

The functions would still be there, so I *might* find myself in a situation where I accidentally hit a wrong key and put the calc in an unfamiliar state, but that doesn't happen very often, and I could fix it by closing/restarting the program.

[Derell Licht]

FLAGS and ALPHA are also essentially programming functions also, yes?
Or do they have other uses?

[Thomas Okken]

Many flags control or report aspects of calculator operation. See the HP-42S Owner's Manual, Appendix C.

You need the ALPHA menu to create named variables, and to execute (or assign to CUSTOM) functions that aren't in any menus, if you don't want to go find them in the FCN catalog.

[Thomas Okken]

On Monday, February 17, 2025 at 5:02:00 PM UTC+1 derell...@gmail.com wrote:

Just a note for all the responders here... I was never requesting that these features actually be removed from the calculator [...]

Subject: Feature req: remove programming functions??

Whether you meant: rip the features out of the source tree, or suppress them in the UI, doesn't change the fact that you're expressing dislike for the features that are pretty much the defining characteristic of the HP-42S. And considering the very first line on the Free42 web page reads "Free42 is a re-implementation of the HP-42S Scientific Programmable Calculator and HP-82240 Printer."

No hard feelings, but you can't blame people for finding that amusing. :-)

[Jonathan Cameron]

You might also consider the WP-31s, which has many of the features of the WP-34s without the programming capabilities.  See:

   https://sourceforge.net/projects/wp34s/files/emulator/wp-31s/

-Jonathan

[Derell Licht]

Well... okay, I apologize for leaving this post, though I appreciate the suggestion about modifying one of the skins.

I have used Plus42 for years now, and truly love the program.  Please just disregard this thread...