You can pry my OS 5.3.1 from my cold dead hands.
hmmm... looking at the calcs pictured, it seems that TI has added a label above the X,T,θ,n button, that shows that pressing [ALPHA] + [X,T,thetaθ,n] inserts a fraction... the non-Python CEs don't have that label.
elfprince13 wrote:
You can pry my OS 5.3.1 from my cold dead hands.

No need for them to be cold; I have a soldering iron that can fix any calculator damaged by downgrading from 5.3.1 to 5.5.
Candledark wrote:
hmmm... looking at the calcs pictured, it seems that TI has added a label above the X,T,θ,n button, that shows that pressing [ALPHA] + [X,T,thetaθ,n] inserts a fraction... the non-Python CEs don't have that label.

This was added recently on the other python calcs. I know rev O has it and rev M doesn't but I'm not exactly sure which rev added it.
EDIT:
According to Zeroko, rev N doesn't have it so I guess rev O is when this was added (Jan-2020)

Good eyes spotting that change!
ACagliano wrote:
Call me crazy ... [a bunch of not crazy things]
Just my $.02


I don't think anyone is going to call you crazy for that. I wouldn't want to promote a product that doesn't support what I like most about graphing calculators.
I don't see anything wrong with "promoting" anything, if you could even call this that. It's a news article about a product launch that is very relevant to this community. The less a website like this posts relevant news, the less active and up-to-date it seems, in my opinion. Also, very few people, if any, are going to buy a calculator solely because they saw a news article about its release on a calculator community website. Basically all of the people that buy it will buy it because they need it for school, and it makes the community more engaging to them if there is information and conversation about their calculator here.

On another note, maybe it says something about TI that the most surprising thing about a new calculator launch is that it doesn't have "Edition" in the title Rolling Eyes. The new colors do look quite sleek, though.
Oh boy, now I don't have to have an accomplice in France ship me one! I did a quick skim through the pages, and apparently we're losing 5 kb of RAM compared to the specs for the TI-84 PCE. One thing that I noticed was the phrase "distraction-free" showing up twice in the overview section:
Texas Instruments Incorporated wrote:
Distraction-free (no Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, internet access) to keep students focused on learning
...
By adding Python to the latest edition of the TI-84 Plus CE graphing calculator, students can learn to program using the same dedicated, distraction-free tool they are already familiar with from math and science class.

If TI did add bluetooth support through a dongle or something and added an API for other companies to use, they could make so much money off of royalties from all the fancy-pants science tech out there; I was using a phone app with a bluetooth pH sensor in my chemistry class and thought about how nice it would be to graph the data on my calc live from the device, there'd need to be some funkiness with an arduino or something for sure but boy would that make recording data far more efficient. There's also Python coding lessons in the TI Codes section, but it's only for the Nspire CX II Python Edition and is extremely sparse. The old TI-BASIC docs are far better and even include some simple games that you can distract yourself with learn from, which is funny because of the pure hypocrisy where TI doesn't like us making games but knows full well that that's the best way to get kids' attention. I don't think I need to rant about the hypocrisy here, we've got plenty of topics for that, but as someone who used Python and built all his techniques off of it: PYTHON BAD. It's just not made for the calcs and from what we've seen it's insanely slow. I'm curious if we can get a Python edition and use one of the various exploits to run TLM's waitstate changer and hopefully make it more usable... but even then, Python's just too bulky and, maybe even overkill, for this. When I think Python, I think of complex tensorflow processes and burning CPUs, not "Oh hey I can graph stuff!" As for native code going kaput, while it's a huge hit to STEM opportunities with a real programming language (interpreted languages aren't real languages), I'm actually very curious as to how TI's gonna implement custom libraries. Maybe we can get a break there and find some sort of exploit or at least a way to compile some speedy Micropython for the ez80's. There's a lot of potential, but most of it is either locked away or would require a massive overhaul, and that's probably not gonna happen without a new calc version.
King Dub Dub wrote:
I'm curious if we can get a Python edition and use one of the various exploits to run TLM's waitstate changer and hopefully make it more usable... but even then, Python's just too bulky and, maybe even overkill, for this.

All the python calcs have the faster flash and thus no parallel flash wait states.
Well, DrDnar et al. determined that it's rather the cache that makes things faster, but yeah, regardless, no need to change wait states.
I don't think sale would be high for this calculator depending on the price and the state of COVID-19 in fall. Then again I may be wrong.
mr womp womp wrote:
All the python calcs have the faster flash and thus no parallel flash wait states.

Dagnabbit, I forgot about that... but if the flash is supposed to be as fast as everyone makes it out to be, then I'm really disappointed with TI.
King Dub Dub wrote:
I don't think I need to rant about the hypocrisy here, we've got plenty of topics for that, but as someone who used Python and built all his techniques off of it: PYTHON BAD. It's just not made for the calcs and from what we've seen it's insanely slow.

I'm very concerned that students are going to get their first taste of programming with TI-Python, realize that it sucks, and then extrapolate from that that all programming sucks, which would be a travesty. By trying to make the platform "distraction free" so students can learn by making it impossible to do anything fun, they're also removing any motivation for students to learn on their own. Aside from the TI-Planet contest, I've yet to see anyone do anything remotely interesting with the on-calc Python.
commandblockguy wrote:
... and then extrapolate from that that all programming sucks...

that'd be me at three AM, hopelessly bashing my head against the keyboard while stepping through Yanderedev-style if/else statement chains... Rolling Eyes

Jokes aside, I like what TI is going for: make programmming a bigger part of using the calculators, and hopefully engage students and introduce them to the world of computer wizardry. But I also think that, maybe, a dedicated games studio thing on the calculator would be more appealing? kind of like Kodu Game Lab or Scratch? and perhaps a more visual and simpler language? with a more beginner-friendly approach, lots of built-in help, maybe even some examples and tutorials and walkthroughs? I'm thinking back to how I learned to make (buggy and inefficient) software...

of course, maybe this approach will end up babysitting students far more than healthy.
[quote="Candledark"]
commandblockguy wrote:
... and then extrapolate from that that all programming sucks...

But I also think that, maybe, a dedicated games studio thing on the calculator would be more appealing? kind of like Kodu Game Lab or Scratch? and perhaps a more visual and simpler language? with a more beginner-friendly approach, lots of built-in help, maybe even some examples and tutorials and walkthroughs...
/quote]
Thats basically ti-73 basic and its atrocious.
EDIT: I'm kind of interested in potential uses of the coprocessor for things that aren't python, i.e offloading tasks to it to reduce the strain on the ez80 in an asm game. of course, this may not even be possible for whatever reason, but it's a thought.
if u make a "game studio thing", please make a compiled language, because they are way faster and more powerful!
Hey mr womp womp, how many prototypes of the new edition do you already have? Razz
DAVID-19 wrote:
Hey mr womp womp, how many prototypes of the new edition do you already have? Razz

Unfortunately, contrary to popular belief, TI does not send me samples. Crying
I think the key to their hearts is being an educator, perhaps I should pick up a job as a part time substitute teacher Laughing
idk if it's just me but the screen part of the positive coral-ation calc looks kinda flat Laughing
I wish someone (TI?) would come out with a full CPython implementation rather than a watered-down microPython.
  
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