keithe@teklabs.UUCP (Keith Ericson) (10/19/83)
I, too, have looked at the TK! Solver package in the IBM pc, and I agree with the general tone of the earlier review in this newsgroup. Mild disclaimer - I haven't studied this package well enough to be anything NEAR an expert at it; I had the reference manual by my side all the time I was using it. Familiarity may moderate some of the following statements. I have a reply to the question of "what is it good for": its use is in setting up systems of equations to model your particular application, and then playing the game of "What If...?" on the computer. It is very similar to all the spreadsheet programs: you install the template of what you want to work on and then play around with the constituent parts until you get the results you want. It doesn't replace THINKING - it replaces calculations - maybe not as fast as you'd like, but probably faster than using your calculator every time... My primary complaints are in two areas: (1) I HATE COPY PROTECTED SOFTWARE THAT REQUIRES ME TO HAVE THE SUPPLIED DISK IN THE MACHINE. I want to make a working copy and put the original in a desk-drawer archive locked up with all the others. A program like TK! Solver achieves its "copy protection" in that it is so complex that copies of the disk without the documentation are virtually useless, and it is prohibitive to xerox the manual. And (2), the requirement of multiple screens to describe the model is somewhat clumsy; I never seem to be on the correct screen. And I can't remember how to get to the one I want (or, sometimes, even what the magic-letter name is. But I've got a good forgetter...) My parting comment is that I have an idea that TK! Solver may be a product that is somewhat ahead of its time... keith ericson at teklabs