3 ms·
It may be highly likely that I'm in some kind of out-of-touch techno bubble, but I don't see that much of a point of real physical hand-held calculators anymore
by samhuk 3y ago
It may be highly likely that I'm in some kind of out-of-touch techno bubble, but I don't see that much of a point of real physical hand-held calculators anymore. I feel like they got stuck between a rock and a hard place, i.e.:
1. With everything being so mega-project and planned-ahead nowadays, you rarely need that "oh lemme just calculate it for you right now" on-the-stop calculating. If a piece of work needs that, in my eyes somebody has already failed upstream.
2. For simple calculations, a normal computer will work fine (and you're likely using one anyway in jobs that need calculating).
3. For complex calculations, you will likely be writing a script in some programming language in order for the calculation to be easily repeatable, etc.
I can just imagine there are loads of people in jobs that do need real physical hand-held calculators every day, and are shaking their fist at me right now :P
- alanbernstein 3y agoI assure you there are still lots of projects that are not mega. Are you interpreting the question as only asking about using a calculator for your day job? Imagine you're measuring something awkward for a home improvement project and you need to add several imperial lengths. That doesn't match any of your three cases.
- eternityforest 3y agoThat one could go either way. Home improvement stuff can be CAD modeled just as much as megaprojects. I tend to go straight to CAD for a lot of things that would otherwise require a paper sketch. Maybe not the best for brain health, but definitely convenient!
- alanbernstein 3y agoFair point. That's generally my inclination as well, but I haven't figured out a tool I like for home CAD stuff.
- eternityforest 3y agoI like FreeCAD, largely because it's pretty much the only practical FOSS CAD and I don't know any other ones....(OpenSCAD is not a real CAD!)
- alanbernstein 3y agoI love/hate OpenSCAD for 3d printing, but just curious, why is it not a real CAD?
- eternityforest 3y agoMostly a joke, but it doesn't Aid you in Designing anything all that much. It's more like a code based simulation of a drafting table, something you use to record the design that's already in your mind. Trial and error and iteratively refining is not really as viable when every step takes pretty significant effort just to figure out how to position something.