I had to use a slide rule for Physics in grade 12. When I got to university I bought an HP-35 which is sitting in front of me and still works. The part that dies is the battery. Take the old battery out and pry apart the plastic frame holding the three battery cells. You can then go to RadioShack and get replacement batteries (a teensy bit of soldering required).
Now I manage software projects that are cross-platform (UNIX, Windows, OS/390) relying on C++, SQL and Oracle, etc. (so old dogs can learn new tricks).
As part of introducing co-op students, recent graduates and other people who don't actually know much about computers yet, how this business works. I show them slide rules and the HP-35. The object is to demonstrate that everything technical they learn (and in particular the tools) will quickly become obsolete. Try to learn in terms of the 'big picuture' and don't become fanatical on obscure technology. Tell me how your solutions (and methods) work with other operating systems. How does the solution relate to performance and other common constraints (like memory)?
Slides rules aren't terribly useful today (except for pilots), but learning how to come up with quality estimates in a hurry is. And the HP-35 was an excellent demonsatration of reverse Polish notation (for you compiler builders).
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I had to use a slide rule for Physics in grade 12. When I got to university I bought an HP-35 which is sitting in front of me and still works. The part that dies is the battery. Take the old battery out and pry apart the plastic frame holding the three battery cells. You can then go to RadioShack and get replacement batteries (a teensy bit of soldering required). Now I manage software projects that are cross-platform (UNIX, Windows, OS/390) relying on C++, SQL and Oracle, etc. (so old dogs can learn new tricks). As part of introducing co-op students, recent graduates and other people who don't actually know much about computers yet, how this business works. I show them slide rules and the HP-35. The object is to demonstrate that everything technical they learn (and in particular the tools) will quickly become obsolete. Try to learn in terms of the 'big picuture' and don't become fanatical on obscure technology. Tell me how your solutions (and methods) work with other operating systems. How does the solution relate to performance and other common constraints (like memory)? Slides rules aren't terribly useful today (except for pilots), but learning how to come up with quality estimates in a hurry is. And the HP-35 was an excellent demonsatration of reverse Polish notation (for you compiler builders).