Damn, 2002 - has it really been that long? I played on a top-5 pvp team on Andred/Mordred back in the day. You could always tell when a group started using radar because they'd go from getting rolled to suddenly appearing from behind or blindsiding you every fight. The clever ones toned it down enough to where it was still a consistent advantage but harder to prove. You'd think MMO companies would be better about this by now, but they're probably all busy reinventing the wheel.
So I looked it up and the website says the 500 used AA batteries. Coulda sworn it was 9V because I know we killed several of those on one of Dad's calculators. Have to ask him, I guess.
I remember my Dad driving two hours to a specialty shop to buy his Corvus 500 (HP-45 competitor) in 1975. One of the few non-HP models to use RPN. Wasn't cheap - about $330 in today's dollars - but it really sped up the engineering work he took home. My brother and I killed several 9V batteries watching the LEDs flash as it made calculations:)
Speaking as a former software engineer who is now a k-12 coding instructor, the justification for this initiative is unlocking student creativity and potential. Teaching kids some block-based coding skills through Code.org or Scratch and helping them to build some basic games unleashes a torrent of creativity. It unlocks their imagination and improves their problem solving skills as they learn to craft and debug more complex programs.
I'm amazed almost every week at the things my students come up with after some minimal guidance and instruction. No, most of them will never become professional coders or compete for your job, but most will have a better understanding of the increasingly digital world we live in and be able to imagine or even create new ways to interact with it. It's not a coding cure-all, but it is a worthy initiative and for some kids, it can be a game-changer.
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Damn, 2002 - has it really been that long? I played on a top-5 pvp team on Andred/Mordred back in the day. You could always tell when a group started using radar because they'd go from getting rolled to suddenly appearing from behind or blindsiding you every fight. The clever ones toned it down enough to where it was still a consistent advantage but harder to prove. You'd think MMO companies would be better about this by now, but they're probably all busy reinventing the wheel.
So I looked it up and the website says the 500 used AA batteries. Coulda sworn it was 9V because I know we killed several of those on one of Dad's calculators. Have to ask him, I guess.
I remember my Dad driving two hours to a specialty shop to buy his Corvus 500 (HP-45 competitor) in 1975. One of the few non-HP models to use RPN. Wasn't cheap - about $330 in today's dollars - but it really sped up the engineering work he took home. My brother and I killed several 9V batteries watching the LEDs flash as it made calculations :)
Speaking as a former software engineer who is now a k-12 coding instructor, the justification for this initiative is unlocking student creativity and potential. Teaching kids some block-based coding skills through Code.org or Scratch and helping them to build some basic games unleashes a torrent of creativity. It unlocks their imagination and improves their problem solving skills as they learn to craft and debug more complex programs.
I'm amazed almost every week at the things my students come up with after some minimal guidance and instruction. No, most of them will never become professional coders or compete for your job, but most will have a better understanding of the increasingly digital world we live in and be able to imagine or even create new ways to interact with it. It's not a coding cure-all, but it is a worthy initiative and for some kids, it can be a game-changer.