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HP Forum Archive 17

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Stats programs for the HP-35s sold on eBay
Message #1 Posted by Bruce Bergman on 27 Aug 2007, 8:50 p.m.

Take a look at this link:

Stat Pac for HP-35s

Someone is making some bucks off selling a port of the StatPac for the HP-35s platform.

Interesting...

thanks, bruce

      
Re: Stats programs for the HP-35s sold on eBay
Message #2 Posted by Don Shepherd on 27 Aug 2007, 9:13 p.m.,
in response to message #1 by Bruce Bergman

Some poor soul buys this for $45 then finds out he has to key in 7,550 lines of code! Why do I see some irate buyers?

            
Re: Stats programs for the HP-35s sold on eBay
Message #3 Posted by Stefan Vorkoetter on 27 Aug 2007, 9:22 p.m.,
in response to message #2 by Don Shepherd

Not only that, but did you notice the section that says all the programs have a consistent interface, and then lists the XEQ labels needed for common operations? This of course implies that the programs are designed so that only one of them resides in the calculator at a time, which means you need to re-key these programs whenever you need one.

Of course, anyone buying this has got to realize they need to key in the code, since there's no other way to get it into the calculator.

Stefan

                  
Re: Stats programs for the HP-35s sold on eBay
Message #4 Posted by Bruce Bergman on 27 Aug 2007, 9:39 p.m.,
in response to message #3 by Stefan Vorkoetter

Now, if you could send him your 35s and HE types them in for you, THEN maybe it would be worth $45. ;-)

      
Re: Stats programs for the HP-35s sold on eBay
Message #5 Posted by Paul Dale on 27 Aug 2007, 10:14 p.m.,
in response to message #1 by Bruce Bergman

I'm guessing but I suspect Namir is the seller. See this MoHPC advertisement

- Pauli

            
Re: Stats programs for the HP-35s sold on eBay
Message #6 Posted by Hugh Evans on 27 Aug 2007, 10:19 p.m.,
in response to message #5 by Paul Dale

The item number matches. I'd say you guessed right.

      
Re: Stats programs for the HP-35s sold on eBay
Message #7 Posted by Allen on 27 Aug 2007, 10:20 p.m.,
in response to message #1 by Bruce Bergman

Quote:
Someone is making some bucks off selling a port of the StatPac for the HP-35s platform.

OK. Namir is free to do so, and probably more qualified than most.. what is the issue?

            
Re: Stats programs for the HP-35s sold on eBay
Message #8 Posted by Howard Owen on 27 Aug 2007, 10:49 p.m.,
in response to message #7 by Allen

That's unlikely to be a rip-off of any another "stat-pac." Given that Namir is an expert statistician and an HP calculator enthusiast, I'd say odds are good you would get reasonable value out of the purchase.

You still might end up with sore fingers, however. 8)

Regards,
Howard

            
Re: Stats programs for the HP-35s sold on eBay
Message #9 Posted by Bruce Bergman on 27 Aug 2007, 11:40 p.m.,
in response to message #7 by Allen

No issue. I didn't say anyone was ripping anything off -- I said someone was making some bucks off a port of the Stats Pac.

It is what it is. I know *I'm* not typing in all those programs, especially when there is a magnificent collection of stats programs for the 50g! :-)

thanks, bruce

            
Re: Stats programs for the HP-35s sold on eBay
Message #10 Posted by Les Wright on 29 Aug 2007, 7:41 a.m.,
in response to message #7 by Allen

Looking at the eBay listing, it seems our good friend has essentially written a book. I know that he is scrupulous about notions of copyright and intellectual property issues, so I would expect the work is original and thus he is free to give or sell it away as he sees fit. I also fully expect that anyone who purchases this document knows full well that the code goes into the calc by fingers.

I think Namir has a great deal of credibility in this regard. Some of you may remember that about 1985 he was the single most prolific contributor to the HP41 Users' Library. He is a highly skilled RPN programmer, and if he wants to seek a little remuneration for his work, good for him. He has the credentials to back this up. I also expect he will fully support his work and make adjustmentss and respond promptly to feedback and bug reports.

Les

Edited: 29 Aug 2007, 7:52 a.m.

                  
Re: Stats programs for the HP-35s sold on eBay
Message #11 Posted by Arne Halvorsen (Norway) on 29 Aug 2007, 8:08 a.m.,
in response to message #10 by Les Wright

Yes, but there where one criticism raised earlier in this thread about the user interface indicates that only one program can be in the machine by the design.

After implementor found to be one of 'us' no more discussion on this topic has been (granted, it may not been discussed either way).

Statistic is not my field but I guess anyone in need of these functions of a calculator need first to find out if HP-35s is the right machine for her.

Does this indicate for example that the memory of the machine is to limited for this type of work?

Is this genuine design flaw in the code?

Are we misreading the implication of the software's description?

      
Re: Stats programs for the HP-35s sold on eBay
Message #12 Posted by Seth Morabito on 28 Aug 2007, 1:08 a.m.,
in response to message #1 by Bruce Bergman

I think this is excellent news. More applications means more utility for more users, and that means more sales for HP, and that means more money for calculator development. It's capitalism at its finest!

            
Re: Stats programs for the HP-35s sold on eBay
Message #13 Posted by Pal G. on 28 Aug 2007, 1:54 a.m.,
in response to message #12 by Seth Morabito

Well, there is nothing wrong with capitalism. However, if HP is smart they pay the author a couple thousand bucks and make the statistics programs open source, or should I say free, to the public. As mentioned, there is quite a bit of key pressing to do for those would be statisticians. If HP were to make all those statistics apps public many more people would buy hp 35ses and load 'em up. Otherwise, I am afraid all of Namir's work is for a stark few who are "looking for statistics applications for their new 35s on ebay"??

I would have never known those apps existed if I hadn't read it here, and I imagine not too many present and future hp 35s owners know about this forum or search ebay for statistics applications.

Cheers, Pal

                  
Re: Stats programs for the HP-35s sold on eBay
Message #14 Posted by Vincze on 28 Aug 2007, 9:17 a.m.,
in response to message #13 by Pal G.

I not familiar with Stats pack, but I do have one question. Is/was this copyrighted material for different calculator? If so, there may be issue with copyright holder (or was Namir author of programs?)

                        
Stravinsky said....
Message #15 Posted by Les Wright on 29 Aug 2007, 7:50 a.m.,
in response to message #14 by Vincze

A professor of mine likes to quote Stravinsky, who basically said that great composers steal from each other all the time.

I expect that Namir drew inspiration from the original HP41 Stat Pac as well as various Users' Library Solutions in the statistics realm. Still, I suspect he had a lot of work to do to adapt algorithms to the 35s. Also, it seems that he uses the 35s 3D vector type to maximize matrix storage capacity. This is an entity unique to the 35s and it would take some clever and innovative porting to get things to work.

I think in our own programs we borrow others' tricks, techniques, and motifs all the time. Is this plagiarism, or is it simply benefitting communally from the shared expertise of the group?

Les

Edited: 29 Aug 2007, 7:51 a.m.

                              
Re: Stravinsky said....
Message #16 Posted by Ren on 30 Aug 2007, 10:52 a.m.,
in response to message #15 by Les Wright

It might be...

"standing on the shoulders of giants".

or

"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery"

Ren

dona nobis pacem


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