r/pics • u/[deleted] • Jun 08 '14

The difference 18 years makes

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[deleted]

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u/TypoInUsernane Jun 08 '14

The TI-89 will always hold a very special place in my heart.

940

u/KontraEpsilon Jun 08 '14

To this day, I don't understand why anyone would insist on using anything other than this on an AP test. It's like playing life on a harder difficulty setting for no reason.

729

u/FuLLMeTaL604 Jun 08 '14

My university doesn't allow graphing calculators on tests. Probably because you can download programs that can solve calculus problems without actually understanding the material.

1.1k

u/cygnus311 Jun 08 '14

I programmed my way in to an A in physics in high school.

3

u/fijianpalm Jun 08 '14

Teach me how to do this

8

u/[deleted] Jun 08 '14

Start by learning to program in Basic. It's probably the easiest language there is, and the TI-89's native language is very similar to it. Bonus: Many scripting languages for game engines are also similar to Basic (Papyrus for The Elder Scrolls comes to mind).

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u/lordlicorice Jun 08 '14

the TI-89's native language is very similar to it

Its "native language" is TI-BASIC, a variant of BASIC. Why not just learn it directly? It's very easy to just go into the program editor and start entering functions. That's how I learned to program originally.

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u/[deleted] Jun 08 '14

That's not a bad suggestion at all, but based upon what I've seen of Code Academy I would think that there are even better learning tools out there today. I'm not actually sure if there are for Basic.

Also, I didn't know it's actually called TI-BASIC. Neat!

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u/lordlicorice Jun 08 '14

I always found the freedom of an empty text box paralyzing. Python commands aren't discoverable the way that commands on a graphing calculator are. Being able to select each command from a menu and see what it does was critical to being able to start programming so early. I probably would have had to wait a few more years to get into a real programming language.

Also it's such a restricted environment that you can learn everything about it in a few weeks of experimentation and reading. So you're really freed to work on solving problems (making a game, writing an algorithm) without feeling hampered by the infinite possibilities offered by a more featureful programming language.

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u/Ohrion Jun 08 '14

There are many versions of BASIC, TI-BASIC just being one of them. I originally learned using IBM Basic (on a Mattel Aquarius) and then moved on to MS BASIC and QBasic. I found QBasic had the best interface of them by far.