CalCOOLator! for Pilot 0.91

           NEW! Added more workarounds to the 1.1-0.1=0.1 bug!!!

Introduction
------------

CalCOOLator! is a replacement of the calc application bundled with 
the Pilot. It's a very basic application, only slightly more featured 
than the original one. It's also considerably uglier. It has the same 
bugs (except for the infamous 1.1 - 0.1 = 0.1, about which see the 
section about Bugs), and probably a few more. 

The main difference is that it finally overcomes the problem of single 
field calculators. It may have had a sense to build them in the 
seventies, when LCDs were expensive and graphical user interfaces were 
three generations ahead. Mimicking those calculators in the nineties is 
ridiculous. So calCOOLator! has two fields: enter an expression in one 
field, and see the result (while you are typing it) in the other. The 
expression can be entered both by tapping on the buttons and by writing 
the characters on the Graffiti pad. You can then re-edit the expression, 
change the numeric values, the operators, etc. without needing to rewrite 
the whole thing. 

CalCOOLator! only accepts numbers, operators and parenthesis. Any other 
character is refused. On the other hand, the Graffiti strokes for some 
letters are similar to the ones used for numbers. Therefore, you can 
enter the numbers and operators on both sides of the Graffiti pad, and 
they will be equally well understood. These are the correspondences: 
  zero  1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   +   -   *   /   Clear
    o   i   z   b   l   s   g   t   y   q   k   SP  x   \   = 
    
CalCOOLator! also has 5 memories that can hold any entered expression. 
MS, MR and MC are three popups that can be used to store, retrieve and 
clear expression in, from and off the memories. 

You can reuse the result of an expression for a new one. You can swap the 
content of the fields by dragging either field to the other one (or you 
can use the menu command for this). 

Beware: CalCOOLator! is still in beta testing. It may harm your data, 
applications and health. Use only as directed. Void where prohibited. 

Version History
---------------

0.91 (10/5/96) Provided a fix to the workaround to the 1.1-0.1 bug, to 
     handle also the reciprocal problem of 0.9+0.1. 
0.9  (10/4/96) Provided a workaround to the infamous 1.1-0.1=0.1 USR bug,
     and removed the zeros at the end of numbers between -1.0 and +1.0. 
0.8  (9/27/96) Initial release. 

Known bugs and problems: 
-------------------------

* 1.1 - 0.1 = 0.1 : After some nice and some not so nice remarks about
  putting out an application that is subject to this bug, version 0.9
  provides a workaround to it. The problem lies in the Floating Point
  library that comes with the Pilot SDK. I suspect there are two different
  floating point representations of 1, one which is correctly translated
  as 1 (actually, 1.00000000e0), and the other is incorrectly translated
  into 0.1 (actually, 1.00000000e-1). Both provide correct results when
  used in expressions (thus, 1.1 - 0.1 + 3.5 correctly returns 4.5).
  Version 0.9 of CalCOOLator! intercepts the incorrectly translated
  representation of 1 and substitutes it with the correctly translated
  one. This is a dirty trick, that gives no guarantee to identify and
  correct a different representation problem caused by the same bug in the
  library. Nonetheless, all the expressions that should return 1 and
  return 0.1 on the Pilot calculator return now correctly 1 on CalCOOLator!
  version 0.9. The author would appreciate receiving examples of further
  incorrect representations (or calculations, in case there are some).
  Version 0.91 also checks for the reciprocal problem of (among others)
  0.9 + 0.1. I would like to thank Stephen Schwartz for pointing it out. 

* Fields' content and memories are not preserved from one run of 
  CalCOOLator! to the next one. The feature is actually disabled 
  (the code is already in place) because there is still a bug that 
  makes me afraid of tough problems. 
  
* Memories are substituted to the actual content of the field, instead of 
  inserted in place of the current selection. 
  
* Pilot calculator reacts to its competitor by always starting with an
  error condition and the memory set. I am not aware of any negative 
  effect of this strange behaviour. I suspect jealousy and calling 
  twice FplInit(). 
  
Shareware
---------

CalCOOLator! is shareware. If you think it's worth something, please pay 
the shareware fee of $10 to:  
	Julie, Rebecca and Kurt Bieber
	125 Florence Avenue
	Westfield NJ 07090
	USA

Julie (1), Rebecca (6) and Kurt (8) are the three kids of my friend 
Michael Bieber, and they have helped me a lot during my period in the 
states, in Roselle Park NJ, January-July 1996. I know they (well, Kurt 
and Rebecca only, at the moment) like Lego a lot. ("Dear Santa, I could 
always use a few more Legos"). Please specify "shareware fee for 
CalCOOLator by Fabio Vitali" on the check and/or letter. 

Fabio Vitali, the author, retains all rights over the application. The 
source code, sparsely commented, can be obtained from the author for $100. 
He can be reached at the following address: 

	Fabio Vitali
	P.O. Box 154
	I-40033 Casalecchio di Reno (BO)
	Italy

	fax:    +39 51 6130140
	e-mail: fabio@cs.unibo.it

By registering you get nothing. If you care, drop me a note after you sent 
your shareware fee to the Bieber's and I might remember of you for 
unlikely program updates and maybe even for Christmas cards. 

Future Pilot Projects
---------------------

ConVERter: a multiple, bidirectional, customizable linear converter. 
Converts any value expressed in any unit to any other comparable one: 
km to miles, $ to DM, Celsius to Fahrenheit, etc. 

Expense tracker: sort of Money, but simpler. I spend my holidays 
traveling thru Europe with some friends. All shared expenses are paid 
by whoever happens to be present at the moment. A log used to be kept 
to find out at the end who owned how much to whom. Guess who has always 
been in charge of keeping this log? Exactly. Now I'm tired, and I want 
an application to do this thing for me. Yes I know it's trivial with 
Excel, but I don't want to bring my Mac with me.

The FV suite: improved versions of the four applications bundled with 
the Pilot: minimal changes to Address and Memo Pad, major changes to the 
Date Book, complete rethinking of the To Do. 

Expect any one of them any time between now and 2025.