Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!EE.ECN.PURDUE.EDU!steele
From: steele@EE.ECN.PURDUE.EDU (Richard A. Steele)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.handhelds
Subject: Re: HP48SX impressions
Keywords: HP48SX, HP, suggestions
Message-ID: <9003120337.AA13693@en.ecn.purdue.edu>
Date: 12 Mar 90 03:37:49 GMT
References: <9003110211.AA03686@en.ecn.purdue.edu> <1825@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU>
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Reply-To: steele@en.ecn.purdue.edu (Richard A. Steele)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Purdue University
Lines: 59

In article <1825@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU> mjkobb@media-lab.media.mit.edu (Michael J Kobb) writes:
>In article <9003110211.AA03686@en.ecn.purdue.edu> steele@en.ecn.purdue.edu (Richard A. Steele) writes (that's me!):
>[...]
>:       Links to objects would be nice, so that a single object could be
>:       shown in more than one menu at a time.  This would come in
>:       especially handy for program objects, since a change in any
>:       reference would change all of them.  It's terrible to need, say,
>:       three copies of BESSEL in separate directories when only one is
>:       really needed.
>
>That would be handy, but one really nice feature is the "Last menu"
>command.  If you have to move to another menu to find something, you can punch
>that key, and it takes you back to the last menu you were using.
>
>
>--Mike

I agree, the Last menu is very nice when rooting around the built-in menus
of the HP48SX, but it doesn't do anything with the directory structure.
And perhaps you missed my point:  just getting to the object isn't the
problem -- it's the necessity of storing more than one copy of the same
object in separate (and totally unrelated) directories.

For example, suppose I created a wonderful program like SPICE for my
HP that requires the function BESSEL.  I also have another analysis
program in another directory that also requires the same BESSEL function.
In other words, I have the following directory structure (pardon me
while I switch to VT100 graphics mode):

				HOME
				 |
                  -----------------------------
                  |                            |
		SPICE	 	  	    ANALIZE
                  |                            |
          -----------------               ------------
	  |               |               |          |
	BESSEL		HPSPICE		BESSEL	  HPANALIZE

I have two of the same functions floating around my calculator taking up
valuable RAM; I would also have to change every version of this function
for bug fixes, revisions, etc.

The obvious solution would be to put the function BESSEL in the HOME directory
since the HP searches the HOME directory by default trying to find the
program.  This might not always be a good solution, though:  I'd end up
cluttering my HOME directory with lots of little programs lying about.

This of course brings me to one of my _other_ suggestions:  a search path
that can specify where the HP "looks" for its object references.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Richard A. Steele        |  Standards are wonderful...there are so many
Purdue University        |  to choose from.         -Andy Tanenbaum
steele@en.ecn.purdue.edu |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Disclaimer:  I'm just an undergrad, so I really don't know what I'm
	     talking about...