RPL Newbie

[Randall]

My first calculator was the HP35 many years ago followed by the 48gx, 49g+, and 50g. The latter have a large software library. I often used a power system load flow and a financial program in the field where a full blown pc was hard to set up much less use. I still use the 50g for specialized problems.

As mentioned rpl is not compatible with prime hpppl, but I took the plunge and bought one about 2 years ago. I worked my way through the quick start guide which gives an overview of the prime.

It has many nice features: color, touch screen, and, in my opinion, nice design. Even though the 50g and prime are very different, I used the solver on the 50g and the prime to find the root of the same function. Both got the same answer but the prime was blazingly fast.

The prime software library is much smaller than the 50g, but the prime hasn't been around nearly as long either.

Although this dates me, I took a pascal class when it was a regular course offering. The prime hpppl syntax is very similar to pascal. I have written a few short programs and one of a few hundred lines.

I had and still have difficulty adapting to the prime user interface. Got a bit easier when I stopped trying to extrapolate from the 50g and simply started learning the prime from scratch.

I use a calculator at work and take it to meetings (for which I am kidded). Recently, the kidding briefly stopped when I got a numerical answer before the youngsters could input the first factor of the required 2 factor authentication on their portable devices.

I would suggest getting the prime with the new key color scheme. From the posts here, hp did not change the model number because the hardware did not change.

The new color scheme makes the keys easier to read especially in darker light conditions. The new color scheme can be identified by the dark blue color on the shift key. The shift key on my older unit is pale blue. If you search on the words -key color- under the prime post area you can see the 2 keyboards side by side.

Hope santa comes through.

Randy