Insect
Dev tools
scientific calculator
SHOW HN2017
How HN took it
16 positive, 38 neutral or asking, 10 mixed, 30 critical, out of 94 comments about the project. Thread score -0.16.
Execution: 1 for, 17 againstIdea: 6 for, 8 againstDesign: 5 for, 5 againstDocs: 2 for, 0 againstPerformance: 1 for, 0 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Units and expressions just work intuitively
From 2 comments
This is pretty cool, it's one of the rare applications I've used where the things I've tried "just work". For example "10 kg to g", "c", "c to km s^(-1)", "c to km/s" all work…
lol768 on HNLooks really nice! ≫ exp(2*kg/s) ``` exp(2 × (kg / s)) Conversion error: Cannot convert quantity of unit kg/s to a scalar ``` Excellent! Is there any way I can save a list of…
semi-extrinsic on HN
Clean interface and good use of colour
From 2 comments
Well done! Plain and easy to understand interface and excellent use of colour and space. Two suggestions: 1. While I doubt it'll be used very much, consider adding calories for…
gvkv on HNThis is exactly what I've been looking for for years. A fast easy calculator that's as convenient as a physical school calculator but with familiar programming style input since…
averagewall on HN
Objections
Unit parsing and implicit multiplication cause surprising results
From 3 comments
Hmm, I find the auto-associativity to be a bit weird for example: ≫ 1/12 c ``` 1 / (12 × c) = 2.7797e-10 s/m ```
forgotpwtomain on HNI tried to enter ``` 3 5 ``` which was interpreted as 3 * 5. Seems a bit risky to me :) Otherwise looks neat.
Quiark on HNFirst thing I tried: >> 2 min 35 s + 3 min 54 s = 13920 s²
jkh1 on HN
Precision display shows zeros and rounded digits
From 2 comments
≫ round(pi * 100000000000000000) = 314159265358979324 ≫ round(pi * 1000000000000000000) = 3141590000000000000 (similar comment by @btown down there about e)
avip on HN> high precision ``` ≫ e*1e15 e × 1000000000000000 = 2718280000000000 ``` Needs a bit of work, I think.
btown on HN
Missing units and functions such as sin, rpm and fluid ounces at first
From 3 comments
Nice, but ``` sin (30 rad) sin × 30 rad Unknown identifier: sin ``` Wouldn't it be great if software evaluated things, and if things didn't made sense, considered what the…
anigbrowl on HNI tried to convert 1000 rpm (revolutions per minute) to Hertz (periods per second), but I get ``` Unknown identifier: rpm ```
effie on HNI really like the UI and seeming wealth of different units. It doesn't look like it supports fluid ounces though. I tried "4 tbsp to oz" and it interprets oz as mass instead of…
wotamRobin on HN
Requests
Propagation of uncertainty
From 1 comment
Kudos! I would love to see two more things: 1. Propagation of uncertainty.[1] I often yearned for a calculator that automatically propagated uncertainties for me while writing my…
boramalper on HN
Custom unit definitions
From 1 comment
Really great tool! Thanks for the hard work. It would also be really nice to specify custom units, such as ``` ≫ U = 1e-6/60 * kat U = 1.66667e-8 kat ``` Because now it does this…
antrion on HN
Complex numbers and imaginary numbers
From 2 comments
Too bad it doesn't support complex numbers
timow1337 on HNLooks really nice! ≫ exp(2*kg/s) ``` exp(2 × (kg / s)) Conversion error: Cannot convert quantity of unit kg/s to a scalar ``` Excellent! Is there any way I can save a list of…
semi-extrinsic on HN
Save and reload variables
From 1 comment
Looks really nice! ≫ exp(2*kg/s) ``` exp(2 × (kg / s)) Conversion error: Cannot convert quantity of unit kg/s to a scalar ``` Excellent! Is there any way I can save a list of…
semi-extrinsic on HN
Questions
How does it compare to GNU Units
From 2 comments
I'm a little confused as to how this improves on GNU units, which seems to support far more: ``` $ cat .units period(len) units=[m;s] 2pi*sqrt(len/gravity) ; (period/2pi)^2 *…
Hello71 on HNNice, though I'm still highly partial to GNU Units. In large part as it allows specifying output units, and not just for conversions. Note: if you're on MacOS and are using the…
dredmorbius on HN
Is there an Android app
From 1 comment
Very nice on first try -- added to my quick toolbar. Great to be able to intermix metric and SAE units, as there is (very unfortunate) constant use of both in my field of work.…
toss1 on HN
Alternatives named
GNU Units
From 2 comments
For those interested on a CLI counterpart, GNU units is more or less the same. The units definitions file is enormous
F_r_k on HNNice, though I'm still highly partial to GNU Units. In large part as it allows specifying output units, and not just for conversions. Note: if you're on MacOS and are using the…
dredmorbius on HN
Google unit conversion
From 2 comments
hmmm, I'm a little bit skeptical about this. I'd be cool to have this as a python script somewhere but I am not quite sure wether I would visit this site whenever I need to…
zython on HNThis is exactly what I've been looking for for years. A fast easy calculator that's as convenient as a physical school calculator but with familiar programming style input since…
averagewall on HN
Frink
From 1 comment
I have been using Frink for over 7 years. Aside from a calculator with a gazillion units, Frink lets you program in a less verbose Java for other tasks. Graphics are easy too. I…
eggy on HN
Numi
From 1 comment
Nice. This is a lot like (in looks and some functionality) the macOs app, 'Numi' (which I love) : https://numi.io/
ourcat on HN
Python pint
From 1 comment
I use Python with pint [0] for this. It integrates with numpy. It has support for uncertainty. You can do all calculations Python can, Python math reads like ascii math. It also…
navane on HN