[Coco] Cocopedia updated

[Wayne Campbell]

You will find packed I-Code to be nearly as fast as object code, but
unpacked code in the editor is noticeably slower.

I am working on getting the cocopedia page updated, but these days access
to a computer is rare. If you have any questions, I am on this list, so ask
away. ;)

Wayne
 On Jul 30, 2013 5:49 PM, "Christopher Smith" <csmith at wolfram.com> wrote:

>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Aaron Wolfe" <aawolfe at gmail.com>
> > To: "CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts" <coco at maltedmedia.com>
> > Sent: Monday, July 29, 2013 5:27:17 PM
> > Subject: Re: [Coco] Cocopedia updated
> >
> > On Mon, Jul 29, 2013 at 6:24 PM, Christopher Smith
> > <csmith at wolfram.com> wrote:
> > > Still used, in fact, with newer HP calculators and still popular
> > > enough among engineering types.  I have a reasonably (within the
> > > last five years) new HP40G+ which has an RPN mode, which I quite
> > > like.  Several computer languages -- especially stack-based
> > > languages -- use RPN style mathematical precedence.  LISP and
> > > derivatives (Scheme, for example), Forth, that kind of thing...
> > >
> >
> > I'll give up my RPN based HP48 when they pry it from my cold, dead
> > hands :)
> >
> > Once you become comfortable on an rpn calculator, you will cringe
> > every time you are forced to use an algebraic one.
>
> Agreed.  It's simple and predictable, and especially in certain types of
> functional programming, and probably calculus it makes a great deal of
> sense to do things this way.  For example, you can try different operations
> on a particular number by duplicating the top of the stack, performing some
> more calculations on it, and swapping elements to move the current value
> back in the stack by one, repeating until you've tried the entire set of
> options.  If you want to find a minimum or maximum or a sum of that work,
> it's obviously quite simple at that point.  In an algebraic system, you'd
> need to do quite a bit more work to manage something like that.
>
> Taking an RPN calculator to a math class really does feel like using a
> jackhammer to break drywall sometimes. Takes a bit of extra effort to start
> out, but it makes quick work of problems that others spend an eternity
> trying to solve.  :)
>
> Of course, now that I've talked it up this much, I really should go and
> try BASIC-09.
>
> Chris
>
> --
> Christopher Smith
> Systems Engineer, Wolfram Research
>
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