[Vanity/Geek Humor and Otherwise] RPN Jokes?

2014-03-28 Zulu | my $self = undef

[re_nortex]

It’s one of the pleasures of my life to torment kids who think they know oh-so-much more about electronics and computers than old farts with an HP calculator.

Next time a young'un has a problem with an HP RPN calculator, let the hijinks really begin by handing 'em one of these!

You knew a slide rule was going to turn up sooner or later in this thread, just like it did back in 2003. I'll come clean and humbly admit that the last time I used one of those was around the time Agnew resigned. All of the neural pathways have since atrophied and I'd stumble, bumble and fumble for a good while before I could do (/ (* 10 10) 2) or, more topically, 10 10 * 2 /.

[posterchild]

That is fine for a math class but when studying circuits the focus should be elsewhere.

[OldMissileer]

I had a TI 21 function calculator in High School. Used it for chemistry and such. When I joined the Air Force I bought a HP for work and quickly fell in love with RPN and used that same HP all the way through college and my EE degree.

[HartleyMBaldwin]

I love RPN, and dread the day that my HP15C dies. I got it in 1985, after the bookstore guy showed me how the stack entries lift and drop, and I have been sold on RPN ever since. Some years back I wanted a graphing calculator, but couldn’t find one with RPN.

Once you go RPN, you’ll never go back.

[Scoutmaster]

I owned a HP38E, which I soon replaced with a HP38C (continuous memory). I still own the HP38C, but Mrs. Scoutmaster thinks RPN is the work of the devil.

[PastorBooks]

“TI vs. HP set the stage for a whole lot of other “Holy Wars” that followed in the dawn of the tech era: vi vs. emacs...”

There was no holy war with Vi vs. Emacs.

How could Vi compete with something so superior?

M-x we-won

:-)

[PastorBooks]

“2 + 2 = 2 ENTER 2 +”

Don’t know anything about RPN. Either that’s before my time or that I wasn’t a calculator geek. But I see the resemblance to Lisp...

(+ 2 2)

[Cboldt]

Bigtime fan of RPN. Trusty HP-15C, and use RPN on any emulator on a PC or tablet.

RPN is not a cure against only borrowing. Mine walked off from work one night, and showed up a few days later. Whicher night shift worker fancied it, dumped it off in purchasing. pretty much everybody in the plant knew I was pissed about the ripoff, but had the calcupunker been "one that people are accustomed to using," I doubt it would have found its way back.

The new version of the HP-15C is pretty darn fast, too.

[Cboldt]

-- I love RPN, and dread the day that my HP15C dies. --

HP put out a "Limited Edition" 15C. I bought one last year for about $100. My original goes back to 1984, the display on it is going bad, and replacement is an "advanced level" task.

Not quite the same quality on the keypad, but not bad.

[re_nortex]

RPN is not a cure against only borrowing. Mine walked off from work one night, and showed up a few days later. Whicher night shift worker fancied it, dumped it off in purchasing. pretty much everybody in the plant knew I was pissed about the ripoff, but had the calcupunker been "one that people are accustomed to using," I doubt it would have found its way back.

Thanks, that's a great story!

[re_nortex]

M-x we-won

Good one!

I'll confess to being "bi" on the editor matter. Depending on my frame of mind and the task, I'll fire up either one, actually vim, the vi clone with tons of extensions. As the saying goes, "Emacs is a way of life" and when I'm in a heavy-duty mode of a complex project, I just "live" in Emacs for hours and days. And I have no problem with transferring my finger memory from one to the other. But on those rare occasions on a customer site where all I have is notepad, I cringe in horror as the files are filled with :wq and C-c C-x strings.

[skinkinthegrass]

here's another geek machine...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYsOi6L_Pw4

[HartleyMBaldwin]

Thanks. I’ll have to look into that.

[Cboldt]

Just out of curiosity, I looked. Holy Cow! The price went up a bit. Cheaper to buy a tablet and run an app.

Samson Cables - HP 15C Scientific Calculator
HP 15c Calculator | eBay

[ctdonath2]

FORTH!

[HartleyMBaldwin]

Holy something, all right. I don’t think I’ll spend that unless we win the lottery or something. Thank you for providing those links.

[PastorBooks]

“As the saying goes, “Emacs is a way of life” and when I’m in a heavy-duty mode of a complex project, I just “live” in Emacs for hours and days. “

Yep, that’s the best use for it. I have it on my to-do list to learn Vim so I can do quick edits. My .emacs files are so big that Emacs takes a good 10 seconds to start up. Any more and it will attain sentience.... :-)

“But on those rare occasions on a customer site where all I have is notepad, I cringe in horror as the files are filled with :wq and C-c C-x strings. “

Oh, no kidding. I put off learning Emacs for years and now I can’t imagine working without it.