The programming language isn’t hard to pick up. If you miss your old calculator, there is a define feature that lets you program like a key macro recording. You can even find some from the Internet. You can write programs on the device or if you have the HP Connectivity software (also free) you can write programs on your PC.
The PC and phone versions will also connect just like a real device. For example, there is an application, HP Connectivity Kit, that lets you talk to a real calculator over the network. So this isn’t a case of someone just writing a pretend calculator, these apps act like the real calculator because it is running the same source code. It appears that these apps are not emulating the actual calculator hardware, but are ports of the calculator code. There are also “lite” versions that are free. On iOS the cost right now is $25 and on Android it is $20. They aren’t free, but they are relatively inexpensive. However, you can also get official apps for Android and iOS. It is easy to think that HP provides the free PC software so you’ll go out and buy the real calculator, and that may be part of it. Other applications include plotting, statistics, solvers, and even a spreadsheet that can hold up to 10,000 rows and 676 columns. It is also programmable using a special HP language that is sort of like Basic or Pascal. It also has an amazing number of applications including a complete symbolic math system based on xCAS/Giac. However, the HP Prime isn’t just your 1980s vintage calculator.
You might wonder why you need a calculator on your computer, and perhaps you don’t.
But still, it will run under Wine with no more than the usual amount of coaxing. Of course, that’s free as in no charge, not free as in open source. To start with, HP has a free app that runs on Windows or Mac that works just like the calculator. But if you can’t justify a $150 calculator, there are some cheap and even free options out there to get the experience. It is hard to call it a calculator since the latest variant has a 528 MHz ARM Cortex A7, 256 MB of RAM, and 512 MB of ROM. Today’s students are more likely to have a TI or Casio calculator, but HP is still in there with the HP Prime. The slide rule sword gave way to calculators hanging from your belt loop, and for many engineers that calculator was from HP. Well, really it was a slide rule hanging from your belt, but it sounds cooler to call it a sword.
There was a time when being an engineering student meant you had a sword.
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