WP 34S: Quick access to bitwise operations as on the 16C
|
01-27-2015, 02:24 AM
Post: #20
|
|||
|
|||
RE: WP 34S: Quick access to bitwise operations as on the 16C
A dedicated overlay designed specifically for a device that's primarily a programmer's calculator (while of course also supports every single function the 34S has) could be useful. However, that's not a small undertaking because we have to provide very easy access to four related operations: directly switching to binary, octal, decimal and hexadecimal modes, and that requires a major reshuffling of the keys.
The only place those functions can go is the top 6 by 2 block and 6 keys are already taken up by the digits A-F, and those six keys don't fit anywhere else. Therefore the shifts must go and there's only one place the shifts can end up: XEQ and the arrows, so the arrows must also be relocated. I've given it some thought and I think these changes are unavoidable. Below is a diagram of the only reasonable starting point for a programmer's layout I could come up with, given the HP 30b's keyboard. Three things could possibly be changed: 1. The bin/oct/dec/hex keys could be reversed or moved to the left side (but then STO/RCL would need to be relocated). 2. The window operations, <( and )>, could be moved anywhere. But both window operations must be on the same shift to allow fast operation when switching back and forth, [f] for left and [g] for right as on the original 34S is slow. 3. The arrows could be made f-shifted instead of h-shifted. (It wouldn't be optimal to have them g-shifted because your finger can more easily find [h] below the large ENTER key or [f] above the lowered EXIT key.) The arrows are shifted but since there are no letters assigned to those keys, the + and - keys could be used to navigate in catalogs without a shift, so it wouldn't be very painful. STO and RCL should probably remain in the original positions, stack rotate could be on the right of ENTER, pushing x<>y and +/- to the right while getting rid of EEX. EEX in floating point mode could be to the right of the decimal mark, so either EEX or R/S would need to be in a shifted position. Some food for thought... Code:
|
|||
« Next Oldest | Next Newest »
|
User(s) browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)