use Perl

• Calculators (Score:1)

  by n1vux (1492)

  Real calculators can be more satisfying. Great move on scooping the close-out of the hex calcs.
  
  Someone else recently told me that they couldn't do their trig homework since they couldn't find their TI Silver and the Windows calc didn't do trig, and were amazed when shown the VIEW|Scientific option. (And of course, that spreadsheet does it too.)
  
  As to Hex conversions, TIMTOWDI - you can frequently do it with Perl pack(), unpack(), or sprintf() too.
  
  

  --
  Bill
  # I had a sig when sigs were cool
  use Sig;
• Search Pattern, and experience (Score:2)

  by ajt (2546)

  People like most animals use search patterns when looking for things. If we find "X" in location "1", we expect to find other "X-like" things in "1-like" locations. We don't even bother looking for "X-like" things in "2-like" locations. As a gerneral rule it's pretty efficient, books live in book cases, CDs in CD racks and so on.

  The problem with life is that unless you are a hacker and are constantly taking things to bits to find out how things work, you have a pretty poor set of experiences, and so your

  --
  -- "It's not magic, it's work..."
• Well-worn tools (Score:2)

  by ziggy (25)

  Sometimes, the best tool is whatever you're comfortable using. Like CALC.EXE, Calculator.app, some closeout solar powered calculator, or even the trusty old dc:

  $ echo "16 i 9A p" | dc
  154
  $ echo "154 16 o p" | dc
  9A