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

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

#161

Post by paledot »

CrendKing wrote: post #160
Etherlord87 wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am a Windows power user, and the default Windows calculator is one of very few programs bundled with the OS that I actually use - and I use it quite frequently. And I click on the number digits. Why? 1. Usually I only click on a few buttons, for example I paste some number, then press / then 2, and then typically ENTER key on the numpad (because I can just press it with the thumb of the hand still holding the mouse…

Your use cases are valid and should be respected and supported. What I was saying is, there are other people who prefer keyboard for efficiency, and they don't need keypad. Make it optional and hideable so that all users are happy. It's very simple change in terms of code diff, but it seems very hard in terms of design choice since even Microsoft doesn't get it.

Making the keypad optional adds user confusion. It might be a worthwhile tradeoff if doing so is necessary to save screen space, but if the keypad is actually accounting for such a significant portion of your screen real estate, I'd love to see your monitor.

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

#162

Post by boneitis »

mbar84 wrote: post #150

I have a script bound to a hotkey. User experience: 1+1 exit $ cat ~/bin/ipy ipython -i -c "import itertools as it; from statistics import ;import functools as ft;import operator as op;import io;import pathlib as pl;import pandas as pd;import numpy as np;from math import ;import enum;import re;import sys;import os;import json;from collections import defaultdict, deque, Counter;import random;import decimal;import frac…

You have just upped my game. No longer will I hand-type my imports when I need to bust out the Swiss army knife and type a quick (now lightning-fast) calculation. Don't know why I didn't do this sooner.

For anyone needing more inspiration, here is some pseudocode for my version (which also has accompanying print()'s in the live script as a reminder of what my imports are):

>>> from base64 import b64encode as be, b64decode as bd;from binascii import hexlify as hexl, unhexlify as unhexl;from Crypto.Random import get_random_bytes as grb;from Crypto.Random.random import randint # PARAMS (a, b) INCLUSIVE;from Crypto.Hash import SHA1, SHA256;from urllib.parse import quote, unquote

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

#163

Post by Etherlord87 »

CrendKing wrote: post #160
Etherlord87 wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am a Windows power user, and the default Windows calculator is one of very few programs bundled with the OS that I actually use - and I use it quite frequently. And I click on the number digits. Why? 1. Usually I only click on a few buttons, for example I paste some number, then press / then 2, and then typically ENTER key on the numpad (because I can just press it with the thumb of the hand still holding the mouse…

Your use cases are valid and should be respected and supported. What I was saying is, there are other people who prefer keyboard for efficiency, and they don't need keypad. Make it optional and hideable so that all users are happy. It's very simple change in terms of code diff, but it seems very hard in terms of design choice since even Microsoft doesn't get it.

As I hinted in my previous comment, power users of Windows, don't use apps bundled with Windows! :D

You can download a calculator that is designed to your preferences. I actually wrote a calculator in Autohotkey that was a keylogger constantly checking if last typed characters can be interpreted as a mathematical expression - if so, the expression was evaluated and displayed as a tooltip, and pressing a shortcut could be pressed to paste an equal sign and that evaluated value. Never finished it though, demotivated by how hard it was to port to other OSes.

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

#164

Post by w0mbat »

CharlesW wrote: post #61
w0mbat wrote: post #41

I got fed up with all these complicated calculators and re-implemented the original Mac calculator desk accessory at https://CalculatorDA.com . It does the simple things I need while giving me a nice nostalgia buzz.

A fun story about how that original Mac calculator came to look the way it did: https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Calculator_Const...

Thanks! That story was part of my inspiration. I gave my Calculator DA a lot of visual toggles in the View menu so you can find your way to the look that makes you happy, like Steve did.

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

#165

Post by uranusjr »

Off topic, but FYI I thought your page was broken when it’s loading on my phone. All I could see was the table of contents, the main text is barely visible (like 10px) on the very right edge of the screen. The TOC didn’t close until everything is loaded, which took a few seconds for me for some reason (probably bad network on my part). Perhaps making the TOC hidden by default with CSS and open it later would be better UX, not sure.

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

#166

Post by CharlesW »

w0mbat wrote: post #164
CharlesW wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A fun story about how that original Mac calculator came to look the way it did: https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Calculator_Const...

Thanks! That story was part of my inspiration. I gave my Calculator DA a lot of visual toggles in the View menu so you can find your way to the look that makes you happy, like Steve did.

Cool!

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

#168

Post by veysiertekin »

veysiertekin wrote: post #167

Alternative: why not use casio emulators? https://education.casio.co.uk/download-emulator-cw https://education.casio.co.uk/emulator-free-licences (Looks like they are Windows binaries, didn't try on WineHQ tough)

Quickly tried free versions on CrossOver for Mac, works pretty well: https://imgur.com/a/bnTLqbm

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

#169

Post by veysiertekin »

veysiertekin wrote: post #167

Alternative: why not use casio emulators? https://education.casio.co.uk/download-emulator-cw https://education.casio.co.uk/emulator-free-licences (Looks like they are Windows binaries, didn't try on WineHQ tough)

Looks like Casio has Mac binaries as well (paid): https://edu.casio.com/softwarelicense/index.php
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