Science Memes

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Calculatable (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by HootinNHollerin to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Why didn't they just make one Clear and make another Backspace? The concept of erasing the last character had been in typewriters for a while by then, and this is far more obvious. Maybe erasing a single digit in earlier software/hardware was much harder than just clearing it all?

[–] RememberTheApollo_ 16 points 2 weeks ago

Some do that, too. Unfortunately the weight of tradition seems to enforce the C/CE/AC key preference.

Even the iphone built in OS calculator has the “AC” button unless you manually tap the entry window, then you get a backspace.

[–] InverseParallax 6 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Because calculators used to use paper, and clear entry basically invalidated the line.

This kept the same interface for the really old paper calculator users.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/226285302528

http://www.vintagecalculators.com/html/busicom_141-pf.html the granddaddy of calculators, and the one the Intel 4004 processor was designed for.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

but we got digital typewriters that still used paper and those added the obvious functions like backspace and actual text editing tools, why didn't calculators progress the same?