Re: Have a look at these articles Message #6 Posted by Valentin Albillo on 25 Aug 2003, 8:05 a.m., in response to message #5 by Vincent Weber
Vincent posted:
"While the matrix operations on the Advantage are clearly better than the ones on the 15C, for complex numbers handling the 15C has an edge (full complex stack)"
Agreed, no machine handles complex numbers better
than the HP-15C (not even the HP42S), save the HP-71B/Math ROM bundle, but that's not RPN and lacks some functions that the HP-15C has defined for complex arguments (such as inverse trigonometrics). Anyway, as stated in my article, the intention was to "commemorate" the Advantage ROM so as it wasn't a full review, I focused on just one important topic: matrix handling and compatibility.
"I think the makers of the Advantage ROM should have included the CA implementation from the PPC ROM (infinite complex stack)."
Disagree. I'm not very fond of "infinite" stacks, a la RPL because I think the disadvantages (variable size which can result in less than 4 stack registers or even none, no automatic replication of the upper level, 'garbage collection' frequently necessary, lots of memory used by the stack, slower, cumbersome LAST functionality, etc) do not pay off for the advantages. To me, it's just a book case of 'diminishing returns', i.e.: 2 or 3 levels are too few, 4 levels are much better, even ideal, 5 levels would perhaps be marginally better, but 6, 7, or 'infinite' levels do not really improve things appreciably and can even detract from usability.
In the end, when you say that a 41C will never look at a 15C or 42S with envy again... this is true of the 15C, but I am not sure that it is true of the 42S, which has a really fantastic matrix integration !
Yes it does, but it completely lacks I/O ... and
that's extremely important and that's the way it is. If you can point out some particular strength of the HP42S, such as its 'fantastic matrix integration', it's only fair that I should be allowed to point out and remind you of the greatest strenght of the HP-41C system, namely its I/O and expandability, right ?
You can bet that if I have my HP-41CX with a double X-MEM module attached (i.e: nearly same RAM as a 42S), with an Advantage ROM and a PPC ROM plugged in, and a beautiful card reader ready to download any program from a small card holder full of them, in seconds, and you're next to me with an HP42S, you're probably the one that's going to feel envious as soon as we began to do something serious with them, or simply show off each other our latest tricks.
In short, the HP42S may be a fine machine, etc, etc, but next to the HP-41C described above, the fact that you can't plug any ROM modules into it to expand its capabilities, and the fact that you have to key in every
program you intend to use, and can never backup anything on external media, make it a non-contender, actually. No way any 41CX user is going to feel 'envious'. What wouldn't any HP42S user give for being able to use a card reader, uh ? :-)
Advantage ROM, to be complete, should have included hyperbolics and hex/bin arithmetics.
Agreed. However, I would have preferred that all its many functions were machine-coded, complex functions in particular. Also, a better TVM section, a la HP-12C, would have been nice as well.
Thanks for your interest and kind comments, and best regards from V.
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