"Woofbert" <woofbert.spam[at]infernosoft.com> wrote in message
news:woofbert.spam-6D3476.13414505072003[at]typhoon.sonic.net...
> In article <mr-D67BFD.22072505072003[at]news.fu-berlin.de>,
> Sandman <mr[at]sandman.net> wrote:
> It might be called a PC, and old computer, or a doorstop. But I would
> not call it a calculator. Calculators are different from computers, even
> though my high school science fiction teacher insisted that calculators,
> since they computer numbers, are computers. Old calculators don't make
> very good doorstops, though. They're not heavy or study enough.

hmm, i though everyone pretty much accepted that calculatores are computers;
simple computers to be sure, but computers none the less. and *old*
calculators definately are big, heavy, and sturdy enough to be door stops:
http://hp.calcmuseum.com/

In article <LtrOa.249$Cj1.27049097[at]newssvr14.news.prodigy.com>,
"ed" <news[at]no-atwistedweb-spam.com> wrote:

> "Woofbert" <woofbert.spam[at]infernosoft.com> wrote in message
> news:woofbert.spam-6D3476.13414505072003[at]typhoon.sonic.net...
> > In article <mr-D67BFD.22072505072003[at]news.fu-berlin.de>,
> > Sandman <mr[at]sandman.net> wrote:
> > It might be called a PC, and old computer, or a doorstop. But I would
> > not call it a calculator. Calculators are different from computers, even
> > though my high school science fiction teacher insisted that calculators,
> > since they computer numbers, are computers. Old calculators don't make
> > very good doorstops, though. They're not heavy or study enough.
>
> hmm, i though everyone pretty much accepted that calculatores are computers;
> simple computers to be sure, but computers none the less. and *old*
> calculators definately are big, heavy, and sturdy enough to be door stops:
> http://hp.calcmuseum.com/

Okay. I'll grant you that about the big old calculators.

My first scientific calculators were distinctly different form computers
becuase they were not programmable. My TI-55 and my various HP
(currently an HP 32S) calculators are programmable, but even so they're
qualitatively and quantitatively different from computers. A Palm is a
computer, but there's something rather calculator-like about even a
programmable calculator. Thus I make the distinction.

Not everyone makes the distinction ... but I don't insist that everyone
does, either.

--
Woofbert, Chief Rocket Surgeon, Infernosoft
Woofbert's Law on Learning Linux: When attempting to learn Linux,
study it thoroughly before you begin.