Updated 040213-2 Re: ASTRONAV software, HP-41X and other things ... Message #15 Posted by Antoine M. Couëtte on 13 Feb 2004, 2:33 p.m., in response to message #12 by Antoine M. Couëtte
Updated reply in a more readable form with paragraphs hopefully better separated
Feb 13 , 2004
Dear Christoph ,
You are absolutely right : " a short documentation or a software user manual would be needed for running " ASTRONAV .
I started writing a Users' Manual in both French and English , with examples different in each langage to multiply them , and at three levels :
- standard use ,
- advanced use , in which I indicate entry / exit data locations . All main algorithms are individually named and can be very easily replaced at users' option by their own Programs in RAM having the same global labels that my ROM programs . I should say I did my very best to use but the very Best Formulae , but in this job we are to stay very humble ... This is why I will more than welcome in a first time samples to run before this software can be made public ,
- Detailed description of sources used and credits , mainly for Planetary Theories by my late Friend Pierre Bretagnon of Bureau des Longitudes to the Memory of whom I dedicate this entire work .
There would also exist at least two higher levels :
- detailed mathematics which I invented in a number of cases and which I intend to publish separately as a PhD publication ,
- and the detailed programming logic , sometimes very complex since some programs can run in over 15 different ways . Over the past 22 years I probably spent somewhere between 4000 and 5000 hours on this activity .
As regards public availability , I am planning to release ASTRONAV when documentation is complete . Given its importance this ASTRONAV Software is not a free software , exactly as some publicly available software - such as Hrastprogrammer's outstanding and magnificent HP-41X - is not a free software .
After 22 years of developement and careful testing , I have come to the conclusion that undertaking this task on a totally different machine and different langage would take far too long !!! This is why I consider it as a unique opportunity that now exist - and will shortly exist - various Hp41 Emulators such as HrastProgrammer' s HP-41X , or the other ones you mention such as Jean-François Garnier's EMU41 Rambox2 development and Meindert Kuipers' s MLDL200 unit .
I suspect that Emulators running on PC will run much faster than on a handheld computer , but one of the beauties here is that in my former HP41 CY Turbo and in HP48GX I now " Carry the Solar System in my pocket " to quote one of the most beautiful and superb software earlier published in the mid eighties by PPC and written by Mr Paul Schlyter .
To complete my list of credits , if some of you could indicate to me the ( e-mail ) adresses of :
- Kenneth Newcomer , father of the HP 41 Celebrated Navigation Module ,
- Paul Schlyter , father of the " Carry the Solar System in your pocket " ,
- and Mortimer Rogoff , author of " Calculator Navigation "
all three being people for whom I have a lot of respect and admiration given their expertises in Astronomy and/or Celestial Navigation .
If anybody interested ,I can give more details on this Forum on the way I devised this software . To the best of my knowledge ,it probably unique in the sense that it both and altogether :
- is accurate ( better than Nautical Almanach ) , and
- is truly long term validity - years 0 / + 4000 , and
- is truly hand held ( HP41CY / HP48GX ,/ HP49 ) .
Best regards to you all ,
Antoine M. " Kermit " Couëtte
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