3 ms·

Interesting. This bug is reproducible in the 'new' Windows 10 calculator store app, but not in the old Windows 7 calc.exe. So looks like a regression, unless th

Interesting. This bug is reproducible in the 'new' Windows 10 calculator store app, but not in the old Windows 7 calc.exe. So looks like a regression, unless they completely re-wrote the whole calculator app (for which there seems to be no reason).

chungy 7y ago
> unless they completely re-wrote the whole calculator app (for which there seems to be no reason). That's actually exactly what happened. The original calc.exe (in all versions up to Windows 8.1) came from Windows 1.0, in plain C, very seldomly updated over the years. The one in Windows 10 is totally rewritten in C++ using the "Universal Windows Platform" as an API rather than classic Win32.
- byte1918 7y ago
  It's also open source https://github.com/microsoft/calculator https://github.com/microsoft/calculator
  - gitgud 7y ago
    This Calculator project was added to GitHub 5 months ago in January now the project has 17,000 stars. Are these real people liking the project or has Microsoft got bots to boost it's open-source reputation... it's especially suspicious now since they own the platform now...
    - onefullclick 7y ago
      There are almost 8 billion people in the world. I think 17,000 people is a small number. And geeks are going to geek and nothing geekier than checking Microsoft Calculator, a simple project that everyone can relate to.
      - guardian5x 7y ago
        I think you are right. Another possible explanation would be a big conspiracy though, and probably the government is also involved somehow.
  - laumars 7y ago
    I know some people like to comment on the headline rather than reading the content but that comment is literally the first line in the article: > tldr; saw a Windows Calculator bug on reddit. Since calc.exe was open-sourced I thought I’d try to find the bug and fix it.
- ygra 7y ago
  The Windows 10 UWP calculator retains the math engine from before, which actually has been rewritten. The ancient calculator used standard floating-point math, with the fun problems that entails, like 0.1 + 0.1 showing 0.19999999998. The current engine uses rational numbers as long as possible and configurable precision for trigonometry, roots, etc. It also got further upgraded over the years so that the root of a perfect square is always an integer. As for the bug in question, it could not have happened in the old calculator, as that one didn't have the date math panel. So for the UWP version they merely redid the UI and added a few things. The actual calculator part is still the same as before (just open-source now).
  - piyush_soni 7y ago
    Are you saying that the 'old' (i.e. Windows 7 calculator) didn't have a Date calculation panel? Because I'm seeing it right now in front of me.
    - ygra 7y ago
      Ah, haven't seen the old calculator in years, so wasn't aware that it was in there. Then they only redid the UI.
    - moftz 7y ago
      I had no idea that was in there along with all of the other things like a PMT calculator and unit conversion. I would normally switch to the scientific calculator after getting a fresh Windows 7 and never open that menu again.
  - fireattack 7y ago
    I also don't know it until today, but calc.exe in Win 7 does have a date calculator.

chungy 7y ago

> unless they completely re-wrote the whole calculator app (for which there seems to be no reason). That's actually exactly what happened. The original calc.exe (in all versions up to Windows 8.1) came from Windows 1.0, in plain C, very seldomly updated over the years. The one in Windows 10 is totally rewritten in C++ using the "Universal Windows Platform" as an API rather than classic Win32.

byte1918 7y ago
It's also open source https://github.com/microsoft/calculator https://github.com/microsoft/calculator
- gitgud 7y ago
  This Calculator project was added to GitHub 5 months ago in January now the project has 17,000 stars. Are these real people liking the project or has Microsoft got bots to boost it's open-source reputation... it's especially suspicious now since they own the platform now...
  - onefullclick 7y ago
    There are almost 8 billion people in the world. I think 17,000 people is a small number. And geeks are going to geek and nothing geekier than checking Microsoft Calculator, a simple project that everyone can relate to.
    - guardian5x 7y ago
      I think you are right. Another possible explanation would be a big conspiracy though, and probably the government is also involved somehow.
- laumars 7y ago
  I know some people like to comment on the headline rather than reading the content but that comment is literally the first line in the article: > tldr; saw a Windows Calculator bug on reddit. Since calc.exe was open-sourced I thought I’d try to find the bug and fix it.
ygra 7y ago
The Windows 10 UWP calculator retains the math engine from before, which actually has been rewritten. The ancient calculator used standard floating-point math, with the fun problems that entails, like 0.1 + 0.1 showing 0.19999999998. The current engine uses rational numbers as long as possible and configurable precision for trigonometry, roots, etc. It also got further upgraded over the years so that the root of a perfect square is always an integer. As for the bug in question, it could not have happened in the old calculator, as that one didn't have the date math panel. So for the UWP version they merely redid the UI and added a few things. The actual calculator part is still the same as before (just open-source now).
- piyush_soni 7y ago
  Are you saying that the 'old' (i.e. Windows 7 calculator) didn't have a Date calculation panel? Because I'm seeing it right now in front of me.
  - ygra 7y ago
    Ah, haven't seen the old calculator in years, so wasn't aware that it was in there. Then they only redid the UI.
  - moftz 7y ago
    I had no idea that was in there along with all of the other things like a PMT calculator and unit conversion. I would normally switch to the scientific calculator after getting a fresh Windows 7 and never open that menu again.
- fireattack 7y ago
  I also don't know it until today, but calc.exe in Win 7 does have a date calculator.