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Maggie’s Motivational Pic Thread v2.0 - - New Rules - See Post #1

During High School, the calculator of choice was an HP-65 Scientific. But then in college, it graduated to the HP-12C Calculator

1280px-HP-12C_programmable_calculator.jpg


What was weird about this calculator was that you got to enter things in "Postfix" "Polish Notation" (Yup, that's what it was called)... To add 2 numbers, you type in the 1st number and press "Enter" You then type in the 2nd number and then press the "plus" key. And it would add the two numbers.
You mean "reverse Polish notation"

Polish notation you put the operator first then the number.
 
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I still have my discman (from Sony!) I got in Basic in 88. Its in it's box over my left shoulder.

High tech stuff back then.

My Dad got a TRS-80 when I was in HS. Quickly determined that programming more than 10 color = blue 20 go to 10 was for the pocket protector set and ignored it till college. Then the engineering students had to buy the IBM 'portable' computer with the 5 1/4" floppies and the monocolor ~5" monitor. Watched those guys lug around a suitcase on campus. ...and VA Tech ain't small!

The computer science types had it easier. They had to buy a Macintosh. Still black and white, but they didn't have to lug em around.

M
I got to learn most of the non-programming stuff in the Air Force on their dime. Nothing like being a 1980s cryptographic systems guy; crypto guys were taught how everything worked, and how the math translated into electronics down the component level on the circuit boards.

So now I’m just a super nerd….
 
You mean "reverse Polish notation"

Polish notation you put the operator first then the number.

That would be "prefix" notation (operator to the left of both operands). Postfix is the operator to the right of both operands. Both can be "Polish Notation" and were invented by Dr. Jan Łukasiewicz. "Infix" is when the operator lies between both operands. My main computer professor and college advisor (himself Polish as well) was insistent on us understanding that as part of our "complier theory" class.