| | Date: Wednesday, 2013-02-20, 1:54 AM | # 1 |   |
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Post Count: 3
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| As you know, the TI-84+CSE is releasing this spring. A color-screen calculator with decent programming capabilities. W00t.
However, I believe that this new calculator is not what we want. Why?
1) The 84+CSE has only 21KB of user RAM. While there are 128KB available for assembly programmers, TI-Basic users and such are stuck with even less RAM than before. Exactly the opposite of what we need.
2) The 15MHz z80 processor. TI could have used a 68k or ARM without sacrificing 84+ functionality, but NO!!! its developers had to (HURR DURR) jam in a crappy z80 processor. It might have worked for the black-and-white 84+/SE, but with a 320x240 screen, it will simply not do. At least use a faster processor or use an eZ80, which is (IIRC) 4 times faster on average. But since those assholes wanted to use a shit processor, the whole piece of shit is as slow as hell.
3) The same limited TI-Basic. No functions. No drawing filled rectangles or circles or triangles. And probably no long-awaited string(). Basically the only new functionality is the color drawing commands. Even string() would have appeased us. But NO!!! TI had to be cruel and give us the same crap language. Now, I know that there are people saying "HURRRR DURRRR!!!!! THEREZ A NUMBAH2STR ROUTINE!!!" or "HURRRRRR DURRRRRR!!!!! U CAN DO {ARGZ1,ARGZ2,...}:prgmSHIT!!!!!!!" The truth is that a number-to-string routine would be either slow or work only with integers, and the list-argument method takes up a lot of memory and fails with strings (at least when there is another argument).
Addendum: by now, you'd be saying, "HURR DURRR!!! JUST USE ASSEMBLY!!!" Do you not fucking know how difficult assembly is? For some of you, it might be easy. But it's impractical in large programs. Do I seem as if I'd like to scroll through 100,000 lines of assembly instructions? Also, the use of a z80 processor forces the use of assembly, since the only current C compiler produces unoptimized code, and Axe hasn't been released for the CSE yet.
So, I have the three reasons why I will not support the TI-84+CSE. If you want to follow me, then use this banner:
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