FOCAL and EUREKA
Message #10 Posted by Andrés C. Rodríguez (Argentina) on 13 Sept 2002, 8:25 a.m.,
in response to message #9 by Vieira, Luiz C. (Brazil)
I also had used FOCAL on a DEC PDP-11 (the LSI-11 version) in 1978, so I don’t like the reuse of this name for the HP 41 system. I suggested the EUREKA name for the HP 41 programming language, since (in my opinion) it is an acronym for the most distinctive HP 41 features:
E: Expandability, represented by hardware accessories and peripherals such as Printers, Card Reader, Wand, HP-IL, etc.
U: User-mode keyboard. Keyboard redefinition was an HP 41 first.
R: RPN (classic, 4-levels version)., opposed to Texas Instruments Algebraic Operating System (AOS) or BASIC syntax.
E: Extendibility, represented by software extensions such as Application Pacs (ROMs), XFunctions, etc; and also user-programmed functions which can be called by other programs in the same manner than built-in functions (i.e.: keyboard assignment, indirect execution, XEQ command.).
K: Keystroke operation and programming; as opposed to BASIC-based calculators of the time (1980), in which you needed to type something as “?”, “S”, “I”, “N”, “(“, “3”, “0”, “)”, [RETURN] to get an answer. Nine key presses against three on a HP 41 for the same result. (The “?” was a shortcut for “PRINT”)
A: Alpha capabilities, another HP 41 first for these kind of calculators.
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