Keystroke programming vs RPL ?? Message #1 Posted by Nenad Vulic on 30 Jan 2000, 1:28 p.m.
HP48G is nowadays rather inexpensive and easily affordable. On the other hand HP42S is not produced any more and is rather hard to get and even more expensive than when it was produced. As a RPN fan and a HP67 owner (HP 67 not as a collection item, but still as a working horse) I have to consider transfer to "new" technology (LCD display, continuous memory etc). Comparing programming features I noticed that HP42S is the strongest machine which is still keystorke programmable (the program is basically a series of kestrokes, as on my HP67). HP 48G/G+/GX uses RPL. I looked at some programs written in RPL, downloaded from HP 48 sw archives, but I did not understand many things there. So, there are some points for discussion:
A) Is RPL worth learning at all? Who would buy a programmable calculator, if it is too complicated to program? If things change in future (stronger keystroke programmables, easily affordable palmtops, etc.) will RPL be forgotten (die as dinosaures did)?
B) Would we rather need a RPN machine with capacity and PC communication possibilities equal to those of HP 48G/G+/GX, with keystroke programmability? I think we would.
C) Though the price of HP48G were recently significantly reduced, will it be a mistake to buy now one and then spend hours and hours learning how to start programming. After you come to the end of the manual, a new approach arrives on the market...
D) If we come to common conclusion about a/m points is there a way to transfer this information to the present HP staff and to get some things moving.
Maybe I am totally wrong, RPL is easy to learn and easy to use, it is a revolutionary approach which will last forever, with many advantages over keystroke programming, or it is not too different to keystroke programming, etc. etc.
Thanks in advance for expressing your opinion.
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