The NumWorks calculator is, in several ways, an improvement over the Texas Instruments and Casio calculators. Those other calculators have been with us for several decades now, with only a very, very slow evolution in their capabilities. On the other hand, consider a few of the NumWorks progressive new features and its innovative design.
Python is arguably now the world's most popular programming language, for everyone from beginners to top professionals. Like the NumWorks calculator, its learning curve is short due to its leaner, cleaner, simpler syntax. Python, and the NumWorks calculator, are both powerful enough to support the efforts of engineers working at NASA on the most demanding calculation tasks, and yet they easily support the ease of learning and first use that greatly aid today's students.
The programs are organized into subject areas to meet varying interests and goals. A set of money calculations helps students grasp personal finance concepts. Another set of programs covers electronics fundamentals. Two and three dimensional analytical geometry programs support today's game creation challenges, and so on. Most everyone will find programs of interest in more than one subject area.
Example programs - easy to read and follow.
Python for NumWorks Programs
Table of Contents
- Calculators and Computers
- Dates and Times
- Electronics
- Games and Chance
- GPS and Navigation
- Money and Finance
- Plane Geometry
- Space Geometry
- Space Sciences
- Other useful Python programs for the NumWorks Calculator
The MicroPython used in the NumWorks Calculator is a substantial subset of the full Python language. It's a perfect match for the calculations required by programmable calculators. Learn MicroPython and a person has a huge head start on computer programming at all levels. Other old school calculators use unique, proprietary programming languages that don't serve future educational and workplace requirements.
Python for NumWorks is a collection of real-world Python programs written explicitly for the NumWorks calculator. Because of the nature of Python, these programs are short, easy to read, easy to enter into your calculator, and most importantly easy to understand. They provide a great way to enhance the computational power of the NumWorks calculator, and to help beginners learn a standardized, powerful, and very popular programming language.
The NumWorks calculator's keyboard and user interface is modeled after standard game controllers, making its learning curve so much quicker for today's students. The whole calculator is open sourced - even the plastic body can be 3D printed using publicly available STL files. But its support of Python takes its power and usefulness to a whole new level.
John Clark Craig has authored many books on programming topics, mostly covering versions of BASIC and Visual Basic languages as they evolved over time.
Today his focus is on Python, the world's most popular and easy-to-learn language, suitable for introducing young people to programming for the first time, yet powerful enough for the most challenging engineering, web design, gaming, robotic and machine learning ... actually ALL of today's hot programming areas.
In addition to writing books, John's software projects have controlled and monitored huge solar energy projects, helped wind engineers design better towers for wind turbines, monitored natural gas and oil projects in Alaska, helped train athletes for the U.S. Olympics teams, aided in the design of artificial knee replacement parts, provided a Python library for easier 3D design using OpenSCAD, and even provided tools for scientifically based research into the UFO phenomenon.
John lives in Colorado, today helping his wife with software tools that help her to help homeowners save lots of money by installing solar panels on rooftops.
John is passionate about the Python programming language and how it can be used in so many diverse ways to help others make the world a better place, one programming line at a time.
