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The War |
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In an already distant period (1975-1983) two worlds were opposing in a religious war that made no death.
On the HP planet, the Poles had a strange religion called RPN (Reverse Polish Notation) initiated by a guru, Jan Lukasiewicz, in 1920.
On the TI planet, Texans, traditionalists, were practicing, with fervor, the algebraic notation, using AOS (Algebraic Operating System).
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1920 |
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Jan Lukasiewicz (1878-1956) invented in 1920 the prefixed notation, known as 'Polish' in his honor.
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1954-1958 |
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The origin of the conflict began by TI in 1954 who invented the silicon transistor and the integrated circuit in 1958.
The first weapons could now be created...
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1974 |
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In 1974, HP attack with the HP65, programmable calculator most expensive of all time...
($ 795 at the time = 6 months of French minimum wage = 7800 Euros today)
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1975 |
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1975, Texas Instruments replied with the TI-SR52
The calculator has 224 program steps and 20 memory registers.
A built-in magnetic card reader provided the ability to record and play back programs.
The calculator was also compatible with the PC-100 printer.
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1976-1979 |
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From 1976 to 1979, these two worlds saw the weapons being developed:
HP67 (1976), HP33C (1979), HP34C (1979)
TI57 (1977), TI58 (1977), TI59 (1977), TI58C (1979)
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to East |
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During this time, behind the Iron Curtain, the Soviets developed their own programmable calculators.
Unknown in the West, these machines were using Reverse Polish Notation (RPN) and yet there was no conflict 'Texans against Soviets' because they were not marketed in the West.
(See page 'To the Soviets' menu 'Emulator')
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Texans against Polish |
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Now, two camps are opposing.
The TI users called themselves 'Texans' and baptized the followers of the 'reverse Polish' as 'Polish'.
Everyone claims to have the best machine.
The Texans say that HP means 'High Price ' because HP has a reputation of being more expensive.
Texas Instruments released too a 'RPN' module, just to say 'we too can do that'.
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Some comparisons will also come out in magazines.
(read the article from January/February 1980 - Science&Vie No. 748 and No. 749)
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The end |
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In 1979, HP released the HP41 series but its prohibitive cost and the late release...
(Most users have already bought a HP67 or a TI)
Then the tide of Japanese machines with 'Basic' (Casio, Sharp ...) put an end to this war between machines in specialized languages.
The war is now between Sharp and Casio (1981 ...).
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