I/O vs. Input only Message #1 Posted by David Hayden on 4 Oct 2010, 6:48 a.m.
It's my understanding that various exam requirements affect calculator design and that exam administrators are more concerned with what you can bring OUT of an exam than with what you can bring INTO it. In other words, they're worried that you will record the test answers and sell them.
So the other day, I started thinking about a calculator that had I/O (lets say USB) but you could only transfer data INTO the calculator. For me, this would be acceptable. My main use for I/O on my 50g is to transfer programs into the calculator. I do most of my development on a PC with an emulator. Any programs I develop directly on the calculator are small enough that I can copy them onto the PC by hand.
Obviously there are drawbacks, but think of something like the 35s. With 32k of memory, it can hold large programs, but keying them in by hand is a real chore. Would you buy a machine like this with Input, but no Output? Do you use the output capabilities of a calculator? How?
Dave
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