Hello everyone at Cemetech!

I recently uploaded my first TI-BASIC program, Mental Math, to Cemetech. I wrote this program because I wasn't quite satisfied with the mental math apps that were currently being offered for tablets.

I first started programming about a month ago when I bought Kerm's Using the TI 83+ / TI 84+. After I read the programming chapter, I wrote a preliminary math program that gradually turned into Mental Math. I also bought Kerm's book on programming and learned a lot from it. Thanks, Kerm Martian!

There is, however, one problem that I am having with my calculator when I try to run Mental Math from Cesium. The input function for the number of problems does not erase after I press ENTER. Also if after running the program and working through one set of problems, I attempt to enter the number of problems for a second set, the input function is shifted down the homescreen one line. Subsequent attempts in the same program run shift the input still further down the screen.

I mentioned this problem in the description for the game, and there I attributed it to my old OS (5.0.1.0012). I decided that I would update my OS before I asked about the glitch, but I happened to see the forum thread on the latest OS update the TI had released. I haven't read all of the discussion yet, but I decided it would be better to wait until I found out more about it before updating.

Another reason might be that there is a bug in the Mental Math program itself, but when I run it from the calculator's native program menu, it works fine. However, I think it probably has more to do with either a program bug or my calculator since Cesium has been out for a long time and no one else seems to have had a similar problem.

I would like to add screenshots of the errors that I'm having, but right now I am unsure how to insert screenshots into posts. I would very much appreciate any feedback on how to put them into my posts! Thanks!

To put an image into your post, you can upload it to a hosting site like https://imgur.com

You then take the image url (not the album url!) and type [img]<image url here>[/img]


If I understand you correctly, the bug you described is known, but it seems that Mateo is having issues fixing it.

In your file MNTPRBMS towards the beginning, it looks like you may be misinterpreting how a single line if statement works- just because it's all on one line visually does not mean that it's all on one line to the interpreter.

Code:

works the same as

Code:


This might be what you want- in that case it's more clear to format it as the second option. If this is not what you want, use an If-Then block.

As I'm sure you've read in his excellent book, Gotos and Lbls are usually avoided because they can leak memory if used improperly (bad), are slow (also bad), and decrease readability for other programmers (also bad).

I recommend restructuring your program to avoid them. It's up to you though

There are also many optimizations you can apply to that program. I highly recommend this guide, which goes through the exact steps and methodologies that a good TI-BASIC programmer will use to improve a program similar to yours- I would not be surprised if you could get it below 2000 bytes total. If you need any assistance optimizing or any clarification on what is in that article, do not hesitate to ask!

Thanks, iPhoenix!

I hadn't noticed that error. Thank you for telling me how to upload screenshots and I'll post them as soon as possible. I'll reread what Kerm has to say about Lbl's and Goto's and take a look at the guide you sent.

I am getting ready to wrap up for the night, so I won't reply again tonight. Just so you know, I don't have the chat widget notify me when posts are added to it, so I might miss any recommendations there.

It seems that Mateo literally just fixed this bug- it'll likely be in the next release of Cesium, whenever that ends up coming out.

Or you could build it from the source, but depending on your experience and willingness to wrangle with stuff, it might not be worth it.

I am glad to hear that Mateo has it fixed.

I looked into the hosting site you mentioned and I have decided that I would rather not post screenshots if a third-party site would have to have access to them. However, now that the problem's fixed, they would probably be unnecessary. Sorry if this causes any inconvenience.

I have fixed the mistake in MNTPRBMS and am busy working on the optimizations. Do you have any suggestions on revising MNTPRBMS?

EDIT: After doing some searching, I finally found a image hosting website that had the features I was looking for and will now be adding screenshots to my posts.

After over two weeks of programming, I am happy to announce that the latest version of Mental Math is nearing completion.

I wanted to make a better user interface for the program, so it now runs on the graphscreen instead of the homescreen.

Here's the screenshot of the main menu.


All of the exercises, except Complements and Dates, are online. Right now, I'm busy optimizing the exercises, and fixing some lags in the program.

This is the menu for the Squares exercise.


And these are two samples of the exercise screen.




I still need to fix several bugs in the program, but hopefully I should have it ready to upload in a couple of weeks. Or sooner, depending on how much time I have.

Any comments or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Newbie question: Why didn't the screenshots appear in the post, instead of appearing as picture links?

I used the IMG function in the post creator.

Also, I apologize for the quality of the screenshots. I was hoping for better quality.

I'm glad to hear you're nearly finished, looking forward to the release! I'm happy to see that you're using it to improve your interface! Unfortunately those screenshots won't load for me, I don't know the specifics of the [img] tag however it may only work for certain sites. Try uploading to imgur, imgur can give you the exact bbcode for the picture you uploaded. You can also try [url] tags (won't embed the image but it makes it easier for us to follow the image link) if the [img] tag isn't working.

The screenshots don't show up because that page is restricted with a username and password. Use a common image sharing site like imgur.

Tried a different way to post the main menu picture. And solved it!

Main Menu


Squares Menu


And the two exercise examples.

Progress Update:

The Complements and Dates exercises are now working!





I still have to do some optimization and minor bug fixes, but other than that, everything is working fine.

Currently, the program is 6732 bytes long and split up into 8 subprograms. I am planning on combining at least 6 of these into one main program. The other two are a program that draws all of the pictures that the program uses and a user input program.

The input program works almost like the input command for the homescreen, except you can't move the cursor with the arrow keys and you can set limits to how large the answer can be.

I would like to make the the program automatically redraw the pictures if they have been altered between program runs, but so far I haven't found a way to make the program check each of the picture variables for changes. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Well, I finished Mental Math, and it was accepted into the archives.

Final size: 6733 bytes (trust me, I optimized it )

I am not quite sure how that happened, but I know it is partly due to a feature I added in for redrawing the picture variables. I couldn't figure out a way for the program to check the picvars for alterations, so instead I made part of the menu bar display independently of the main menu picture.

Here's an example where the main menu picture has been replaced, and the program is run.



It's an unsophisticated solution, but I didn't want to slow the program down with lots of code. Perhaps I could do another version in ICE...

Looks great! The interface is clean and sophisticated looking, and the idea itself is very solid. I haven’t really seen anything like this done for the TI84+ CE before. I will definitely download it when I get a chance.

I would recommend rewriting in ICE at some point, however, as this would be a lot faster and allow for the use of the whole screen.

Keep up the good work!

My apologies to those who have downloaded the 1.2.5 version of Mental Math CE.

I found a bug in the program this morning that prevented the program from setting up the picvars properly. I have uploaded an updated version that fixes the bug, and it will be available in the archives soon.

Edit: The updated version is now in the archives and can be downloaded here.

To celebrate one year of being a Cemetech member, I have released a new version of my first program which brought me to Cemetech. Introducing Mental Math CE v2.0.0!



It retains all of the features and exercises of the last BASIC version, but includes two new features as well.

The first is an exercise timer which allows you to set the maximum number of seconds that you can take to solve a problem. If you take too long, the program will show you the solution, increment the problems_worked counter, and leave the problems_correct counter as is.

The second feature is an auto-check. When this setting is on, the program automatically checks to see if you have entered the right answer, eliminating the need to press [Enter]. This makes solving each exercise set much faster.

To all of my fellow members at Cemetech and to Kerm Martian, especially, I would like to say thank you for all of the helpful advice and encouragement you have given!

Happy programming!

That UI is very clean, by anyone’s standards. Good job!

Wow, I really love the graphic style you've created! Fantastic work!

I was fully expecting this to be a timer that forces you to get up and do some physical exercises.

Thanks for the feedback! I'm also very grateful to whoever rated Mental Math CE.


Haha, maybe someone could port the FitBit software to the CE. It would be a bit big to carry while jogging though.

I have just submitted an update to the program that fixes a bug in the chronometer: if the timer setting was turned off, the chronometer wouldn't run. I also hope to release another, non-bug-fixing update to the program shortly that will allow you to save your fastest times for each exercise and view them in a list in the settings menu.