lewis@magic.cad.mcc.com (Dave Lewis) (04/11/90)
In article <1990Apr5.152918.6753@uwslh.slh.wisc.edu> lishka@uwslh.slh.wisc.edu (Chris Lishka (a.k.a. Fish-Guts) ) writes: >On a side note, it always makes me laugh to see the hp48sx excluded in >articles comparing "hand-held computers." These articles usually >include stuff like the Poqet, the Atari Portfolio, and the many >electronic planners and organizers (the latter which are most >certainly not computers). Noone seems to realize that the hp48sx is >in the same league, and actually "blows away" small machines like the >Portfolio in terms of a portable programming environement (most of the >development that I have heard about is done on a desktop PC and >downloaded to the Portfolio). Just a comment, and some questions... Few people view computers as devices to program on. Certaintly programmers will view them this way, but computers do not exist for programmers enjoyment - they exist to perform some real-world task that is valuable. For me, the satisfaction in programming is to perform some task that would have been extremely tedious otherwise. I also enjoy the detective work that is inherent in debugging. Anyway, the point is that most people are looking for the application, not a "programming environment". From that point of view, the various electronic planners and etc. seem to me to be much more useful than the HP-48, which seems to be primarily for calculation. I have an HP calculator, and I consider it a great calculator. A friend of mine has the HP-19 business consultant (I think that's the one) and it compares very poorly with the capabilities of the casio sf-4000, when it comes to data management (it is, of course, excellent for financial calculations). I have been looking for signs that the 48 was any different (because I like HP products), but so far nobody has talked about this aspect of the machine. I don't get the impression that the display has enough space on it to do reasonable text display, and I don't get the impression that text entry is very easy, or that there are large amounts of text storage. Please let me know if I am wrong is this assessment! (as if I could stop you!) thanks Dave Lewis, lewis@mcc.com| The ANSWER is 42, but what IS the ultimate question | of life, the universe, and everything?