31 Oct
2006
31 Oct
'06
3:33 p.m.
sorry I couldn't resist ...
ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) wrote:
The exception that proves the rule ? :-) (I couldn't resist either).
I think the distinction I normally use is often
called 'keeper'. That's a
pun on 'Key Per Function' meaning a calcultor has, say, a key labelled
'SIN', whereas on a computer you spell it out. Byt that definition the
HP41 is a calculator (although you _can_ spell out the function names if
you want to), the HP9830 most vertainly isn't.
so what does this make the Sinclair ZX-80, ZX-81 and Spectrum systems? (I am not even sure you *could* type in the commands,
I think you *had*
to press the appropriate function key).
You do. It saved them having to fit a tokenising routine into the ROM.
So how do you distinguish 'calculator' from 'computer'?
-tony