HP_PRIME PYTHON SYNTAX: HP_PPY

[pier4r]

I don't want to create a flame with the following post. Rather I'd like to point out why in my opinion some objections are not that "realistic".

(11-13-2017 07:32 PM)toml_12953 Wrote:  A few people are working on replacement firmware for the Prime (non-HP, of course). I'd gladly give up HPPL, CAS or both for a full Python interpreter.

I cannot follow. If you give up the math environment developed for the prime, couldn't you just get a raspi with python and be all set?

I mean, it is not that you can program extensive python code with the prime keyboard. Therefore on pc you use python, on mac you use python, for mobile solution either android or a raspi + powerbank and python.

Python is quite ubiquitous.

On the other side, exactly to avoid to search, install libraries, verify that they are exactly what I need, etc... I bought the prime for android and windows to have a small but productive math environment. Developing on windows and let it run on silent android systems.

I could have the same math environment with C, php, java, c#, python and what not, but it is more time consuming for the scope of the problems that I'd like to attack (although I may end up learning a lot in the process to configure a non-math language for what I need). It is the same reason some companies provide as "cloud services" ready frameworks that do a lot of work with little setup. For example Watson services from IBM cloud. The service is there, you don't need to think much. Same for the HPPL, it is a math environment.

Also what is important are mostly the algorithms. Porting code (that is not massive) from a procedural language to another is not that difficult. For massive code is something different, but you don't do massive code for a calculator with the idea of having it portable. You use directly another system.

(11-13-2017 09:36 PM)toml_12953 Wrote:  Even if not Python then I'd like some other standardized language that's available across platforms. Languages such as C or Pascal. If there's room in the ROM, HPPL could easily be extended to Pascal. It's so close now.

Aside from the fact that someone could create a translator (as typescript is translated to javascript) or an independent implementation (like newRPL and RPL).

I think that the scope of the calculator is not suitable to C or Pascal.
C or Pascal could be quite complicate to manage, instead on a calculator one does not want to think much about the quirks of the code, rather one wants to think on the problem.

Python with its indentation style would be a nightmare to code on the calculator.

Moreover I don't see why it is bad to have another programming language (given that it is robust). You don't go and complain that Matlab or mathematica have their own languages instead of C or Pascal.

Neither you go saying "why people developed python if Pascal was already available!? Damn them."

Last but not least. the languages that you find fitting, say python or Pascal, may not fit another user that may prefer HPPL. The problem is why the second user should adapt to Pascal? is it that more legit than you adapting to HPPL?

Again it is not a critic, it is more like "wanting the world fitting our eyes is all nice, but reality is made of compromises". I'd love too to have HPPL working on different platforms.

The nice side is that HPPL works on different platforms (aside from linux for the moment), therefore I bought it! Sure it is not as ubiquitous as C, but neither C is that much ubiquitous if someone does not provide a compiler for the given target platform.