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>Due to how it looked I assumed it works as a standard four-function calculator, but it was actually storing the whole expression in memory and executing it as

>Due to how it looked I assumed it works as a standard four-function calculator, but it was actually storing the whole expression in memory and executing it as per the standard precedence rules. Isn't that how even fairly cheap 'real' calculators do it now though or do really cheap ones really just do one operation at a time from left to right?

SoftTalker 2y ago
I would have assumed that cheap (i.e. 4-function, LCD) calculators today have the same internals as cheap calculators from the 1980s. Why reinvent what works, when you can just keep selling it.
- Someone 2y ago
  Why would you assume iOS, not being the cheap option for a smartphone, would choose to emulate a cheap calculator? There were non-cheap calculators in the 1980s, too, that did proper evaluation. The ones I remember had keys for parentheses, though, allowing you to enter, for example (3 + 4) * 7 = to get 49. For an example see the TI-25 at http://www.datamath.org/Sci/Slimline/TI-25.htm http://www.datamath.org/Sci/Slimline/TI-25.htm
  - SoftTalker 2y ago
    Well I was responding to a post about "really cheap calculators" not non-cheap ones or iOS ones.
  - kevin_thibedeau 2y ago
    The point is, precedence following expression evaluation calculators starting from the 80s have always shown you the expression. No expression and no parentheses buttons (accumulator stack) implies a simple accumulator based design.
    - Retric 2y ago
      The app did have parentheses buttons, depending on rotation you’d get simple or scientific UI. Rotation changing how the calendar handled order of operations seems even less intuitive to me.
  - pasquinelli 2y ago
    > Why would you assume iOS, not being the cheap option for a smartphone, would choose to emulate a cheap calculator? i'd assume that because the ui for the ios calculator app is the same as the ui of a cheap calculator. not sure i would ever consider the platform that app is running on.
    - Retric 2y ago
      > ui for the ios calculator app is the same as the ui of a cheap calculator. Rotate it and the app was a basic scientific calculator.

SoftTalker 2y ago

I would have assumed that cheap (i.e. 4-function, LCD) calculators today have the same internals as cheap calculators from the 1980s. Why reinvent what works, when you can just keep selling it.

Someone 2y ago
Why would you assume iOS, not being the cheap option for a smartphone, would choose to emulate a cheap calculator? There were non-cheap calculators in the 1980s, too, that did proper evaluation. The ones I remember had keys for parentheses, though, allowing you to enter, for example (3 + 4) * 7 = to get 49. For an example see the TI-25 at http://www.datamath.org/Sci/Slimline/TI-25.htm http://www.datamath.org/Sci/Slimline/TI-25.htm
- SoftTalker 2y ago
  Well I was responding to a post about "really cheap calculators" not non-cheap ones or iOS ones.
- kevin_thibedeau 2y ago
  The point is, precedence following expression evaluation calculators starting from the 80s have always shown you the expression. No expression and no parentheses buttons (accumulator stack) implies a simple accumulator based design.
  - Retric 2y ago
    The app did have parentheses buttons, depending on rotation you’d get simple or scientific UI. Rotation changing how the calendar handled order of operations seems even less intuitive to me.
- pasquinelli 2y ago
  > Why would you assume iOS, not being the cheap option for a smartphone, would choose to emulate a cheap calculator? i'd assume that because the ui for the ios calculator app is the same as the ui of a cheap calculator. not sure i would ever consider the platform that app is running on.
  - Retric 2y ago
    > ui for the ios calculator app is the same as the ui of a cheap calculator. Rotate it and the app was a basic scientific calculator.