Show HN: All desktop software calculators are wrong, so I had to build my own

Post by TheDudeMan » Tue, Mar 08, 2022, 1:56 AM UTC

vetinari wrote: post #46

TheDudeMan wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

MacOS is really bad abut this sort of thing. It fails on discoverability. For instance, how do you navigate to a hidden folder in the file-selection dialog? There is no option to show hidden, and there is no place to input the exact path. You must know two things to proceed: That there is a secret hotkey to allow exact path specification, and what that hotkey is. It took me years to learn that there was a hotkey -- I…

> You must know two things to proceed: That there is a secret hotkey to allow exact path specification, and what that hotkey is. It took me years to learn that there was a hotkey -- I just assumed that it was not possible. There's also menu item in the Finder menu - you know, that thing on the upper edge of the screen - Go | Go to folder... and it also gives away the secret hotkey.

Post by perryizgr8 » Tue, Mar 08, 2022, 2:05 AM UTC

Post by antholeole » Tue, Mar 08, 2022, 2:27 AM UTC

CrendKing wrote: post #83

The one thing I don't get about all those calculator applications is the existence of the keypad. Like, the users already have the keypad right in front them called keyboard (the names literally share the "key" part). Why would anyone instead choose to use mouse to click those tiny buttons? I feel most calc designers still stuck at the skeuomorphism and never jump out of the box to think about what user really needs.…

Post by warmwaffles » Tue, Mar 08, 2022, 2:58 AM UTC

jdeaton wrote: post #38

I still use the python repl in a terminal for my desktop calculator. Its a good choice since usually im already in the terminal anyways.

Post by sidpatil » Tue, Mar 08, 2022, 3:26 AM UTC

xupybd wrote: post #84

CrendKing wrote: post #83

The one thing I don't get about all those calculator applications is the existence of the keypad. Like, the users already have the keypad right in front them called keyboard (the names literally share the "key" part). Why would anyone instead choose to use mouse to click those tiny buttons? I feel most calc designers still stuck at the skeuomorphism and never jump out of the box to think about what user really needs.…

We have calculators open on our machine label computers. Those computers don't have a keyboard only a touch screen. Without the keypad these computers could not use the windows calculator. That said this is an unusual use case.