Re: We can build a better calculator Message #7 Posted by Ben Salinas on 24 Jan 2004, 11:44 p.m., in response to message #6 by hugh steers
If I understood your message correctly, you are asking whether the ICP is to design a new language (so to speak) for the calculator (such as the RPL is for HP?) or use the already existing Java Micro Edition. (Please, correct me if I am wrong)
Now, I have very little experience with electronics (I took a Digital Electronics course, but the most we did mathematically was make an 8 bit binary adder/subtractor), so I might not know what I am talking about, but would it be simpler to use the J2ME for the more complex features, such as the vectors and matrices. I was looking over the J2ME API Specifications earlier today, and although there is considerably fewer classes than in J2SE, it still includes what I find to be the most useful classes for this type of operation (java.util.vector, simple 1 and 2 demensional arrays, the hash codes, the threads, etc)... Now if only it included BigDecimal, and BigInteger. Personally, I would think that it would be easier to build off of this language for the more complicated features and use the native programming, as suggested for the basic, faster features"
"i see this capability [symbolic math] of the icp as pivotal, and therefore the starting point. what can be done?"
We definitely will need a language chosen (or a processor) in order to anything more than theory work on this, right?
A few, somewhat confusing thoughts
-ben
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