Did you start out on a TI programmable calculator?

[Ed in SoDak]

The first $100 4-banger digital calculators didn't arrive till after I graduated high school. I got Ds in math. Later I bought a TI-30 (still have it) and was playing with Einstein's equations.

 

Didn't get a computer till '84, a used TS1000 with 16K RAMpack for $50. TI99/4A arrived in '87 and I was off and running.

-Ed

[apersson850]

On ‎12‎/‎7‎/‎2019 at 2:09 PM, lucien2 said:

 ...and PLC programming at technical school.

They are frequently programmed in C or the Pascal inspired Structured text languages today.

[+Lee Stewart]

38 minutes ago, apersson850 said:

They are frequently programmed in C or the Pascal inspired Structured text languages today.

 

All of which were Algol-inspired.  

 

...lee

[+FarmerPotato]

In my garage, I just found a TI-58/59 Service Manual. I was going to scan it, but there are already good scans out there. 

For instance,  https://airy.rskey.org/CALCDOCS//TI/ti59-service-manual.pdf

 

The fuzzy pictures in that scan are just as fuzzy in the original. Maybe the board layouts could be higher resolution, but those are quite readable. The original is not much better (chip numbers really have poorly reproduced markings.)

 

 

 

 

[moulinaie]

I started with a TI-57, very good machine in spite of the limited amount of memory.

Then a TI-58C... and then a TI-66 (very disappointed with the low speed of this last...)

Then a TI-59 !

 

I wrote a compiler for the TI-59, it uses a high level language and compiles everything in TI opcodes. You can find it here:

 

https://gtello.pagesperso-orange.fr/ti58_e.htm

 

Guillaume.

[xabin]

I could never figure out those graphing calculators to save my life. My boyfriend didn't start out with one, either, he was 2-3 when he started doing simple programming on the TI-99/4A of his, has an embarrassing story to tell about how much he got engrossed with it (then again, I have an embarrassing story to tell about myself at 5 years old involving a convenience store arcade game, but that's neither here nor there...).

[PeteE]

I had a TI-81 graphing calculator for my first year of college classes.  The only program I can remember writing for it was a port of gorillas.bas, the one where two gorillas atop buildings of random heights take turns hurling a banana in a parabola trajectory over the buildings at each other.  My buddy in physics class would play against me, carefully plotting the angle and speed to make it hit.  But I sometimes cheated, entering a large enough speed at the right angle to teleport the banana through the buildings directly onto the other player.  Good times.

[matthew180]

My dad had a TI-57 (or 58 or 59, I can't remember), and one day he gave me a booklet with some example programs, and I seem to remember entering in a Lunar Lander type game on it.  This was in the late 70's, maybe even 1980 or 1981.  It was my dad's familiarity with TI that made him choose the 99/4A over the C64 one fateful day at JC-Penny in 1982.

[+Ksarul]

I started out using an SR-51A, but that one had no progamming functions. I eventually got an SR-56--but that was shortly before I switched to the 99/4, so I didn't use it all that long. . .

[Alaskaman]

Was using a slide rule my first two years of College.  HP came out with the HP35 ($450) and the next year came out with the HP45 ($450) one of my classmate's dads company made a group purchase and I bought one for $350.  Was waiting for TI, but graduated from Engineering school before they came out with an engineering calculator. 

[mizapf]

"Don't know much about Algebra,

don't know what a slide rule is for.

But I do know one and one is two

and if this one could be with you

what a wonderful world this could be"

 

We had a slide rule in Math in the 8th grade, around 1983, when I was 13 years old. I'm not really sure about the purpose this was kept in the Math curriculum, but it was just a short topic, for a few days. The only thing I kept from it is to know that you can push down harder arithmetics to simpler forms (multiplication becomes addition, division becomes subtraction etc.) using logarithms.

 

[Keatah]

Early microprocessors did the same thing. Multiplication became addition, and division became addition & subtraction. On an internal register level in the ALU.

[krslam]

Electromechanical calculators worked the same way.  Division was handled as a series of subtractions with a counter.  Ask an old Friden to divide by zero and it would run forever.

[Ed in SoDak]

My Mom had one kinda like this one. As long as you kept the stylus in the correct slot, it worked quite well.

-Ed

[HOME AUTOMATION]

Birth of The Transistor: A video history of Japan's electronic industry. (Part 1)

 

Circuits in stone: A video history of Japan's electronic industry (Part 2)

 

The Calculator Wars: A video history of Japan's electronic industry (Part 3)

 

The technological giant of the micron world: A video history of Japan's electronic industry (Part 4)

 

Just sayin'

[hhos]

I started with a Radio Shack calculator that could not be distinguished from a TI57 if you didn't read the RS model # off of it.  It was made by TI for RS.  Then I bought the TI58... TRS-80, model I...

 

On 1/27/2020 at 9:20 PM, Ed in SoDak said:

I also had one to three similar to this, maybe even still have one.  🙂  If I still have it somewhere, I'll bet it still works and I won't have to change the batteries.

[ClausB]

Cool JS emulators for the TI-57, TI-55, and TI-42 MBA:
https://www.pcjs.org/blog/2017/11/05/

[WhataKowinkydink]

Nope - I actually started on the TI-99/4A and a 286 based PC. 

 

But, I have several more modern TI calcs, which I enjoy greatly, a TI-86 and a TI-89T (which I only got within the last year).

[GDMike]

I never had use for a calculator until I got my TI and started learning assy. Then I've only owned the TI35 oh I love you TI35 forever we never part.

[+adamchevy]

I had a TI-89 that I really liked programming .

[WhataKowinkydink]

7 minutes ago, adamchevy said:

I had a TI-89 that I really liked programming .

The TI-89 series are excellent - to be honest I am more impressed with it than I am with their NSpires. 

[+Vorticon]

20 hours ago, ClausB said:

Cool JS emulators for the TI-57, TI-55, and TI-42 MBA:
https://www.pcjs.org/blog/2017/11/05/

It never ceases to amaze me to see the ungodly amount of effort some people put into digitally emulating old computing devices with no real practical use anymore and with a very limited and slowly shrinking audience. Kudos.

[+slx]

3 hours ago, Vorticon said:

It never ceases to amaze me to see the ungodly amount of effort some people put into digitally emulating old computing devices with no real practical use anymore and with a very limited and slowly shrinking audience. Kudos.

I also applaud them for sharing their labor of love with the dwindling number of nerds depending on period technology for their calculating needs. (I use nonpareil-15c for everyday PC use, nonpareil-16c for assembly language programming and the WP-34s app on my phone - of course I have more of them on any machine I use but never actually use the HP-15C app on the phone because I don't want to turn it sideways...)

[mizapf]

3 hours ago, Vorticon said:

It never ceases to amaze me to see the ungodly amount of effort some people put into digitally emulating old computing devices with no real practical use anymore and with a very limited and slowly shrinking audience. Kudos.

You won't believe how much technical background I learned from this seemingly "useless" endeavour.

 

[jwild]

Variety is the spice of life.


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