It's not dead yet. It's now been over four years since the release of 0.11 alpha and it couldn't unfortunately have been any different. But today I'm finally able to offer you the minimum feature set and quality that you've been waiting for.Oh-Eleven brings you syntax highlighting on the result display, predefined color schemes, instant function usage help, digit grouping (thanks, Tey), new languages, a slightly redesigned formula book with new sections, lots of visual perks, and a new icon (by yours truly, who decided to take an adventure in vector graphics). You can now include comments in the expression - everything after a question mark (?) will be ignored and highlighted differently. Finally, bot comma and dot are now accepted as radix characters. Check the complete closed list of enhancements and defects.
I'm already thinking about 0.12 (or 1.0) and the features that should have priority. One of them is the long awaited ability to define user functions. Thanks to Tey, we're getting there and it will certainly be available in the next version. But for now, I hope you'll enjoy and find this release useful. Grab your Windows or OS X package from the usual place, which has just been heavily revamped. Linux users will have to wait for their distribution to update their included version.
Would like to help the project? You can translate it, file a feature request or bug you found, or contribute with source code.
168 comments:
Thanks! Great work.
Great work! It feels good to see the project moving again!
Thank so much for all the hard work you guys have put into this! I've been following this project for years. And for the longest time, I thought it was no longer being developed until I found the GitHub!
I use speedcrunch daily at work to make simple calculations.
But very often I use the feature from realease 0.10.1 to copy a calculation in input field by doubleclicking in the history.
I miss this feature in 0.11. So I downgrade again to 0.10.1.
@themroc: I'd like to understand exactly what your use case is and what changed in 0.11 that made you go back to 0.10.1. Thanks in advance.
I'm using SpeedCrunch on a daily basis as my programmer's calculator. It's great to see this project isn't dead and new important features get finally implemented.
A feature that I'm missing is to be able to select a different result format for each result line. At the moment the result format is set globally. However, it would be great if one could change the format of a result afterwards, e.g. by right clicking and choosing a different format from the context menu, keeping all the format of all the other results untouched.
I found this new version on google looking how to do modulo on speedcrunch (I still don't know how to do it) and updated to it.
It is ugly so I downgraded it. I think a theme to be more similar to 0.10 shouldn't be bad (I changed theme to default, but still it doesn't have good readability). Also, removing functionality for no reason doesn't look like a smart thing to do to me. Was really necesary to remove the keyboard? Maybe it would be better an option to disable it...
By the way, I'm sure you have put a lot of work and there are improvements under the hood, so don't take this the wrong way.
@Helder Correia:
For better understanding the missing feature in release 11:
http://imgur.com/8P9XZY2
@themroc: Thanks for the clear illustration. The reason why that feature was removed is because:
1) Users requested the result display to be freely copyable.
2) Inserting a past expression is fairly simple and quick via the Up/Down arrows that navigate through the history.
2) The History dock window serves the click-to-insert purpose.
If the alternatives 2) and 3) are not sufficient for you, please leave a request in our tracker and if possible propose a solution that would work for you and 1).
@geidav: Based on your comment, I've just created https://code.google.com/p/speedcrunch/issues/detail?id=474
Congrats for the new release ! I'm sure lots of people were waiting for it (I know I was, especially for the Windows binary).
@Anonymous
For modulo, use the mod() function.
I agree that the new styles are a bit disconcerting, but I got used to the "Standard" style sooner than I thought. If you can't, maybe you should fill a feature request for a more cleaner style (or a way for the users to customize the styles from the GUI).
@Helder: Thanks and keep up the good work!
@Helder Correia: Thank you for your detailed explanation!
2): I forgot this feature of speedcrunch, but this feature cannot replace the old double click feature for me.
3): The History dock window is more usable for me, but cannot replace the old double click feature for me too.
Why?
I calculate at work everytime very similar dose calculations for cancer therapie radiation plans. So, for me it is more easy to find the correct former calculation, which I have to modifiy, if I see the result too.
1): This is complicate, because I am not the programmer of this great program.
Is it not possible to seperate between "single click and mark" and "double click"?
If not, I have no Idea.
@themroc: > Is it not possible to seperate between "single click and mark" and "double click"?
I'll think about something that will leave everyone happy (i.e. being able to select text and also allow fast expression recovery without having to copy and paste).
Your use case makes me wonder that defining a simple function is what you really need though. It sounds like what you do is just tweak parameters manually and see what happens to the result. If that's the case, I'm convinced you'll benefit from the soon to come feature that allows users to define their own functions.
Or maybe it would suffice for you if you could also see the results (say, on a tooltip) in the History dock?
It was definitely interesting to know about what you use SpeedCrunch for at work, thank you.
FYI, I've created a ticket that you can subscribe to follow this issue.
No keypad? Seems to be telling casual users wanted a good calculator to take a hike.
The new website is hilarious.
The aura surrounding the new release seems a bit too minimalistic.
@Nighted: Thanks for your feedback. I've addressed the keypad issue in the post and I have nothing to add at the moment. I'd love to hear why you find the website hilarious. Maybe you're using a browser that is not able to display it properly. If that's the issue, I'd need more info from you.
What a good news ! Lot of thanks for this calculator, the best one ! :-)
Thank you for the work!
Dead or not, I did not even realize it has not been in development since 2009. Have been installing on all computers for many years and cannot get through any of my university assignments, especially physics and calculus where the variables and history are invaluable, without it.
I do not remember using keypad ever so having it gone is a non-issue. Instead, having a side panel with history and variables tabs is much more useful.
Thank you for daily irreplaceable tool.
Thank you so much for SpeedCrunch! What follows is thankful criticism of the new 0.11 version:
1) The default font and the 3 color schemes are very hard to read. I hoped that there would be a "classic" color and font option to replicate the appearance of 0.10.1 but I couldn't find it.
2) There's no keypad option that I can find which I use sometimes and needs to be available for all my installs.
3) The placeholder for the results scrollbar is hard to see and quite small compared to 0.10.1.
4) I miss double clicking on a previous line in the history to pop it in the current calculation field. I understand that the previous lines can be highlighted and copied now but old habits are hard to change.
5) I would like very much to be able to enter: 1,300+600 to get 1900 - is this an option? In 0.10.1, commas are either the decimal place or they produce an error. It seems that 0.11 treats commas as a decimal point. Can there be an option to use a dot as the decimal point and just ignore commas? E.g. 4,396 is interpreted as 4396. I paste in numbers with commas as thousands separators a lot and this would really help.
Thanks again for working on Speedcrunch. I very quickly downgraded to 0.10.1 after trying 0.11. I look forward to future versions.
@Anonymous: Thanks for the feedback. Here's my replies to your remarks.
1) The font is now fully customizable via settings. You can even play with the size easily with Shift+Up/Down. Any color schemes are now possible and it's extremely hard to please everyone. However, you can also disable syntax highlighting.
2) I addressed the keypad issue in the article. I'd be very interested to know why you need it so much.
3) You can also scroll with the mouse wheel and PageUp/Down (with or without Shift).
4) Already addressed by someone else in the replies. Please follow https://code.google.com/p/speedcrunch/issues/detail?id=475 and ideally provide ideas.
5) This is the most debated detail in the history of SpeedCrunch. The issue is that it tries to please everyone with small compromises. Countries use comma and dot in a perfectly inverted meaning. What is a comma to you is a dot to someone else, and vice-versa. That's why the newly introduced digit grouping is done via a small gap instead. This is also why the function separator is a semicolon instead of a comma. That said, I think the app should be smart when it comes to pasted data and convert it automatically.
I've been using speedcrunch for years, It's a great program. I rolled back to 0.10.1 though from .11 because even though I don't use it all the time I missed having the keypad too much to give it up.
Hello,
first of all, thanks for developing such great software. I really don't know how long I use SpeedCrunch, and I'm very fine with the portable version (I never try the installer version).
1. I like dark themes, cause its easier to read later in the night. But why are you inconsequent at the docking windows? It would be more readable if the whole App follows the same theme/skin.
2. Maybe you're right with: "virtual keypad is against the SpeedCrunch philosophy", but why there couldn't be an option to show the keypad, if some users want to. As default it may be hidden, and still follow your philosophy.
I often use the keyboard, and rarely use the keypad, but sometimes I had use the keypad on remote machines that don't have the actual window focus, so its much faster (for short things).
Even for non-professional SpeedCrunch users the keypad has some recognition effect (MS Calc), from time to time some colleagues at office want to calculate something (on my PC), and they can use SpeedCrunch 0.10.x on my machine (cause they knew MS Calc), instead SpeedCrunch 0.11 I cannot put in front of them. So _I_ need to start MS calc for them.
3. Why it isn't possible anymore to open more than one instance at the same time? I mostly have three or more instances of SpeedCrunch 0.10.x open (on different desktops at the same machine), and really often use two of them simultaneously. It would be great to see that "feature" back in 0.11.
4. SpeedCrunch seems to block keyboard-events that aren't for itself, i.e. the media keys on my keyboard doesn't function if SpeedCrunch window has focus. SpeedCrunch 0.10.x doesn't make problems at this point. My be it's possible to path these key events through.
Please don't take this critic personal, I like SpeedCrunch really, and honor your great work on it. I really like the dark theme and the better syntax highlighting, but for the moment I had to downgrade to 0.10.1.2.
Kind regards,
Mr.K
@Anonymous Feb 19: Thanks for your feedback.
1) I don't discard extending the color scheme to every widget in the application. It's just extra work and I'm still not sure about its priority. People asked for syntaxhighlighting on the result display, that's what I gave them. In the same way, I may implement what you're suggesting in the future. Please create a feature request at https://code.google.com/p/speedcrunch/issues/list
2) Like I explained, it wasn't solely because of the philosophy. The design was absolutely terrible and I still have to figure it out (no one has proposed a solution either). It worked fine for people that kept the aplication window small, not so much for everyone else. Also, everyone wants different keys available on the keypad. It's hard to come up with something that pleases everyone. I'll certainly bring it back (once I figure out the design).
3) Because people asked for the very opposite behavior. What I think should be done il allow several (or at least two) panes, either side by side or in a tabbed fashion. Again, please file a request.
4) Never seen/heard pf this. Please file a bug report.
Awesome Job developers! I'm really happy to see this project is under active development.
I've been using speedchrunch on a touch enabled device for a while now. The virtual keyboard has been a bit small, but still usefull. In combination with the touch keyboard by windows (tedious switching between numbers and letters), or even a notebook keyboard (no numpad, typing parentheses is anoying) an optional virtual keyboard would be great.
Because of the high screen density, scalability of that theoretical keyboard or even the entire application would be immensely usefull.
I know this field of application is rathe specific, but there are no alternatives, speedchrunch simply is the best out there.
You can't make everyone happy. That way lies madness and swift project death. Instead, draft a firm vision statement. Whenever someone whines for a feature, toss them a copy of it.
Here is your current vision statement: "a cross-platform, keyboard-oriented desktop scientific calculator". This has too much ambiguity and room for feature creep, and not enough clarity and focus.
Personally, I used history double click all the time and often had multiple instances open. I also whined for user defined functions.
I think the vision statement should go something like this: "a utilitarian scientific calculator providing function over form, ease of use, mathematical correctness, and speed."
In such a statement pretty colors might be shoehorned into ease of use, but not comfortably. It would also be hard to justify forcing a single instance.
@Michael Plotke: your comment much appreciated. Would like to add that history double-click is already fixed and will be in 0.12. User defined functions will be there too. Single instance exists because 1) as you said, people asked for it; 2) that's how OS X desktop behaves AFAIK; and 3) the history saving would be a mess otherwise. I'm much more for a multiple feature or something like that, allowing users to work on at least 2 sessions in parallel. Suggestion welcome.
Please bring back the keypad, makes everything so much easier
Do you have a time frame and road map for version .12?
Hopefully something faster than version .10 to .11 even if you don't do every realistic feature :)
thanks for a great tool!!
@Anonymous: Thanks for the kind words. I'm thinking a couple months from now to 0.12 on a realistic projection, maybe less, no promises.
Could you please update the source location on https://www.ohloh.net/p/3803 ? The project is locked so it can not be done by other users, and the site is good to assess the evolution of projects.
Thanks.
@Anonymous Mar 1: thanks for pointing that out. I've just updated the profile and the new link is https://www.ohloh.net/p/speedcrunch/
Thanks! I've been using this for years.
The virtual keypad is highly missed. It served two purposes:
1. It was a good way to visually orient Speedcrunch newbies to the fact that Speedcrunch is simply a calculator. (Once they started using it, users quickly figured out that they could type too, and often chose to type. However, for onboarding and orienting new users it was very helpful. Now, on first launch for new users, the usage is unclear.)
2. I also use SpeedCrunch on my Windows 8 touch device. The keypad was useful for that. I encourage you to either bring back the keypad option, or launch a version in the Windows 8 app marketplace that works with keyboard and touch (and you can easily charge for the app too on the app marketplace!)
I love the new look, but I can't lose the buttons. If it was an option, I'd definitely update, but until then, I'm going to have to stay with 0.10.1
Also, the website is absolutely terrible. People shouldn't have to guess at what they're clicking.
I agree with the website sentiments. Even a simple word of text under the buttons (saying what they are) would be tremendously helpful. The top-3 buttons are self-explanatory (Windows, OSX, and Portable), but the bottom ones are too confusing.
For example, I could not find the link to the speedcrunch blog - I had to Google for it. The icon that takes you to the blog looked like the icon for some RSS feed.
@Anonymous and @Unknown Mar 3: Thanks for the feedback. I assumed the icons were self-explanatory, like an universally known feed icon for the blog, a letter for mail, etc. I also assumed users check the URLs that links point to when they hover the mouse. Maybe I assumed too much. I'll fix that when I find the time. My ultimate goal was to avoid having to maintain translations for the website at all costs. I'll find a solution.
Great work! This calculator got me through college:) I would like to add to the list of people who would like to have the keypad back. It is useful for beginners until they learn they can type. I understand your reasons for removing it. Maybe add it back and call it a beginner/tutorial mode with the understanding that it is not meant for daily use and can be buggy. I felt like I lost a feature in this release. My family can't use your program anymore.
Other than that issue, thanks for all the hard work! Great work!
1) Why not use a display that is already working and people are comfortable with? A scientific calculator?
2) I need the multi instance feature. I don't know why you don't make that an option. When I discovered you did an 'enhacement' and forced to be single app, I immediately looked through an option to disable that 'feature', but couldn't find it.
3) The comment on the 'Termina' theme is way too dark.
4) While I appreciate you took time to make a website, it is ugly. I needed to Google the name of the app again because I thought I entered another site. There are no visible screenshots, and I don't know what the icons are for. I clicked the X thinking it would close the popup and open the real site but it downloaded the OSX version. Also, the RSS icon is for RSS, not for a blog. Take a look at a site like Sublime Text.
5) Please remove the fancy things you added. I noticed a mask on top and bottom, a light animation when the window becomes active, and the scrollbar is virtually unusable. These are all distractions when you need to rapidly make a calculation. Besides, if the application target are programmers, you know we don't like fancy effects on apps we use everyday, but we need something flat and usable.
@Exeroico:
1) Not sure what to say because I didn't understand your question.
2) I don't know a way of launching multiple instances of the same desktop application on OS X and Ubuntu. Not even sure about Window 7/8. This is a cross-platform application, so it must behave the same independently of where it's running. Also, saving the settings, especially the history, used to be a mess when you were still able to run multiple instances. If you can think of a nice and simple solution, I'd love to hear from you. Or even better, would love a patch.
3) Please file a request on the tracker. Ideally, include the RGB you think would make sense.
4) Already addressed the same questions in another comment, please look it up. What is the browser, version and platform you're loading the website into? There are definitely a bunch of screenshots running in the background. While I did my best to make it work across the most popular browsers, I only have one machine and one OS. Help (and/or donations) welcome. While the Sublime Text website features the exact app demo animation that I wanted for SpeedCrunch, I couldn't find the time or energy to make it (hint for anyone willing to lend a free hand).
5) Not sure what window animation you're talking about TBH. Why do you need the scrollbar so much? You use the mouse wheel much faster if you don't like to use the keyboard (PageUp/Down, with and without Shift). I still don't see what distracts you so much. The mask is a (IMO beautiful) means to tell the user that she can scroll. Why do you assume the target are programmers? In fact, very few programmers that use this calculator have approached me. The target are normal people, young and new, students from 1st grade to PhD, accountants, physics, chemists, finance professionals, you name it. Those are the people I know use the program, the ones that write to me thanking for the usefulness of the application in their lives. And normal people like fanciness. I think SpeedCrunch is extremely flat for an advanced scientific calculalor, meant to be usable from first launch with no configuration tweaking. Next release will be even better on that aspect.
I truly appreciate your feedback, thank you. But I think you made too many (wrong) assumptions and overlooked many details (some that only developers of this app are aware of). I must also say that for every feature that you disliked in this version, I got ten pats on my back. It's incredibly hard to please everyone. And it's frustrating to read such negativism on top of work that resulted from sacrificing so many hours of precious rare spare time that could have been used to enjoy family and life instead. Makes me wonder whether it's still rewarding to offer so much to a community. As a final comment, please start dropping your thoughts on the issue tracker in between releases. I can do so much more about it that way.
I want to apologize for the previous post. It was not my intention to show negativism or tell you it's a bad application. It's just that sometimes I lack of the tact to show my opinion :)
I'm not downgrading the version, in fact I'm upgrading to the last version on every computer I work on, because I like how it looks (except for the few details I mentioned).
Please forgive me for my rudeness, it was not my intention, and thanks for making this great app!
@Exoroico: Appreciate your response, thank you. Feedback is always welcome.
@Helder Correia: Thank you for your work on this product. I can't say I use SpeedCrunch daily but it is definitely my favorite calculator application.
I like the new interface. That said, I have to say that forcing a single instance is a deal-breaker for me. I feel that it is not the responsibility of the application developer to try to work around different desktop environments in order to attempt to create a similar experience across platforms. Each desktop environment has its own way of managing running applications and can handle launching new instances of existing ones. For example, in Windows 7, you can middle-click the taskbar, left drag up, or right drag and select from the popup menu to launch a new instance. However, the new SpeedCrunch modifications to use a single instance have completely broken this desktop user interface. It is always possible to launch a process via shortcut keys as well (I use Win+C to launch SpeedCrunch) which no longer opens a new instance and is frustrating.
You have also mentioned saving the history as another complication to having multiple instances. Well, a similar problem arises in instances of the bash shell, for example, where bash saves your history but definitely allows many instances. I'm not sure if it just appends to a file when you exit, but something similar would be helpful for SpeedCrunch. If SpeedCrunch completely discarded any history other than the history of the instance I was closing, I would still prefer that behavior if it allowed me to have multiple instances.
Anyway, I appreciate the software so I wanted to take some time to leave the feedback.
Oh, one more thing: I created an issue on the github page and then realized that you seem to want to track issues on googlecode instead. Why have two issue lists available?
@Josh: loved your feedback, thanks.
I like your bash comparison and I sort of agree with it. However, I changed the behavior because that's what users asked for almost 6 years ago. What I probably failed to do was making it an option (on or off by default?).
Now other users complain that the old behavior is gone, which I assume as a sign that they don't care about losing the history of the instances that are terminated first. I still think the best way to do this would be adding tabs or display splitting o some kind. That would also allow for proper history saving/restoring. What do you think?
Re. GitHub vs. Google Code, the latter is definitely the official/preferred tracker. If there was a way to disable the GH one, I'd gladly do it. There's 4 git hosting mirrors that people can contribute to, but when it comes to issue/request management it's good to keep everything in one place, and I chose the one I think serves the project best.
@Helder Correia: Personally, the tabs or display splitting within a single window wouldn't be enough for me. I like to be able to have completely separate windows. Sometimes I'll group some windows together on a monitor or workspace and switch to a completely different context with its own set of windows.
FYI, you can turn off the Issues feature for a github repository in the Settings for the repository if desired.
@Josh: Thanks for the tip on GitHub. Would it make sense for you, then, to be able to create a New Session from the menu? I mean two instances in the same process. This way, the variables would be shared in real-time.
I'm very impressed with the new features. There's only one weakness I see over the previous version: the very convenient way you could double click on old inputs or outputs to add them to the current input bar. The history tab could be workable, but it should definitly show all history, including previous outputs.
Other than that, I am very grateful for all the hard work and improvements you've added here!
@Anonymous March 17: Appreciate your feedback! I've already added that feature, please see the issue tracking page.
Glad to see my favorite claculator back in business after all those years. I've used speedcrunch every day for the past 4 or 5 years, and it's indispensable, even alongside behemoths like matlab.
Never tried the alpha version, but I'll give this one a try for a couple of months and get back to you. Don't sweat trying to please everyone, people will always find something to complain about, especially when it's new. Yeah, I didn't like the color schemes either at first, but that's just me nagging about something I'll get used to in a couple of days.
If there's one feature I've always wanted in speedcrunch, it's custom functions, but I read you're already addressing it. Keep up the good work!
P.S.
You should consider making it easy for people to give you money :)
How can I donate?
@polyplokamos: appreciate your comment. Regarding donations, I've thought about that before. It would be nice indeed to get some happy user contributions to cover server and development machine expenses. Getting a Mac and Windows machine would help tremendously to ensure the app works well across platforms And I wouldn't have to wait for and rely on other people that currently help on packaging and OS specific bug hunting. This was a tually one of the reasons why 0.11 took so long to be released. Maybe something like an Amazon gift card would be an easy and convenient way of donating, what do you think?
Looks good but please, please, PLEASE... add the option to visualize the on-screen keyboard!
add keypad back(as a option). I want set speedcrunch as a default calculator, but some employee need keypad.
Speedcrunch is perfect multiplatform calculator.
Thanks for the great work, and congrats on the new release.
I'd like to present a word in defense of the keyboard if you don't mind:
TABLETS.
No physical keyboard available, and the on-screen keyboards are not only unpredictable from platform to platform, but are unsuited to rapid numerical entry.
In my mind, that alone is reason to support an optional keypad, and why I have to stick with the earlier version on my tablet computers (thought the new one will be on my laptop).
Again, thanks for the hard work! It is greatly appreciated!
Regarding donations, I've found pitchinbox.com to be convenient and useful in collecting fund for prior projects.
First of all, thanks for introducing this piece of software. I came across it when browsing for different calculator replacements and found this one to best suit my needs. I've used Sage running on Virtualbox before for my more advanced calculator needs, but it's.. a bit less light-weight compared to this app. This is the perfect balance between the light Windows calculator and the very advanced, yet resource-taxing Sage.
I looked around a while for a donations button as soon as I read your "donations appreciated" comment, but didn't find it. Later I read and understood it's not implemented yet. I'd be definitely interested in chipping in a little bit, considering not only because of how good the program is as it is, but also how actively you are communicating with your userbase.
Now for the actual constructive criticism.
1) I'm hopping on the "bring the virtual keyboard back as an option"-bandwagon. I would suggest to have it on by default, then just make it another option under the "Ansicht" (something like view/display in English) tab, so users can toggle it off/on with ctrl+6 or something. I'm glad to see you have responded to other users' requests to bring this feature back, and the reasons I would like it as well are already mentioned in the previous posts.
2)I also agree with the confusing website. Had I stumbled upon your website before reading a description and seeing clear screenshots of the application from a review site, I very likely would have just gone away. While it didn't take long to figure out the functionality of the icons, the website was just way too different from anything else I've seen and it threw me off. I appreciate the design and do think it is beautiful in a way, it just might be.. before its time? It lacks clarity and convenience for anyone not instantly completely familiar with all the icons in my eyes. I believe English text would be enough under the icons, at the very very least when you mouseover over the icons.
3) I also kind of agree with the scrollbar issue. When I have hundreds of lines of calculations, maybe even more, having an actual scrollbar can be very useful for moving to a precise point in the calculations. With pgup/pgdown, you need to hold one button down for a long time, then the other when you passed the point, etc.. it's just in my experience slower than dragging the scrollbar. Same thing as in the website point, I do think it's beautiful, it's just not as practical as the alternative in my experience. Of course, for people with a relatively short history, it shouldn't be an issue.
4) Is there a help/introduction file in the program? The moment I opened it I was a bit confused with the interface (mainly because of the lack of the virtual keyboard) and tried to find a kind of a Windows help file under the "Help" tab, but didn't find one. I did relatively quickly figure out what does what, but I do appreciate a tutorial/help compendium with any program that can not be considered very, very intuitive to use (and calculators with advanced functions without a virtual keyboard hardly fall under this category for the majority of users).
5) As a sort of a wrap-up, I'm sure you're aware that with this being a free-of-charge program, your userbase will definitely consist of more people than just those who want a very advanced, yet light weight calculator for advanced calculating purposes. If this was a commercial application, "casual" users would likely use something else. As such, having things such as multiple instances in Windows (would be useful to me as well), virtual keyboard, clear and intuitive website, a conventional help/tutorial section within the program, copy+pasting an arbitrary calculation (the function that was detailed in a previous gif), comma/dot functionality etc. should all be in my opinion at least options you can toggle. Maybe a "more conventional and clear" website would not be ideal as an "option" in many cases as it can directly affect the amount of people who actually end up actually trying out the program, but the other stuff pretty much boils down to personal preference and individual usage. While it is very hard to please everyone, adding more options hardly pisses anyone off. If some optional features are considered less relevant and the program ends up with having too many "switches", the less relevant ones can simply be put under an "advanced options" section.
Thank you again for your work. I look forward to the next version.
Note: Heh, I wasn't aware of the character limit before I clicked on publish. I had to split my reply in two. Oh well. :)
@Vesa: you comment is truly appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to write an extensive and very useful review. Regarding 1) 2) 3) 5) I'm already sold that I'll just have to fulfil the requests somehow on next release. On 4) I've already added some infrastructure, mostly missing content now (which takes a long time on itself). Unfortunately, my professional and private lives are not allowing me the spare time I need to finish and release 0.12, but please bear with me. Thanks and please continue providing feedback in the future.
>5) This is the most debated detail in the history of SpeedCrunch. The issue is
> that it tries to please everyone with small compromises. Countries use comma
> and dot in a perfectly inverted meaning. What is a comma to you is a dot to
> someone else, and vice-versa. That's why the newly introduced digit grouping
> is done via a small gap instead. This is also why the function separator is a
> semicolon instead of a comma. That said, I think the app should be smart when
> it comes to pasted data and convert it automatically.
Can the right behavior be not inferred from locale? At least a setting would go a long way. I often copy paste numbers formatted with commas and 10.1 used to give me an error, so I used to go back and remove them, but now I am afraid I will silently see wrong results.
@Hari: Inferring works fine if you're using an OS in your own language. But this is often not the case. Again, the best solution IMO is to be smart when a number is pasted into the editor. and to achieve that without an explicit setting will likely be hard.
Helder, I am really grateful to those who work and produce great tools like SpeedCrunch, and others available on the internet. I use it almost everyday at work. So thank you very much, for the time and effort in making and maintaning this app; you have provided a valuable service for many many people. Cheers!
@David: Thank you so much. I think of people like you when I work on SpeedCrunch to keep me going.
Hi Helder,
I have used speedcrunch for longer than one year. It is incredibly fast and robust. I recommend every engineering guy I have met speedcrunch as the best alternative to the the built-in calculator. XD. We just need a simple and straightforward tool. Thanks for your effort and hard work!
@Jeffrey: Your comment means a lot, thank you. Feature requests/bug reports welcome.
It's simply marvelous! Thank you a lot, developers, thinkers, designers, you've made a fantastic release of SpeedCrunch!
@Antoine: Thank you very much indeed. Hopefully, the next release will please you even more.
I use this on portable apps for different computers at work. Unfortunately most of them don't have the 10-key keypad.
Without at least some virtual function keys, the new design is not convenient.
Punching numbers, sure....executing functions...not really.
I've used SpeedCrunch v.10 for years. I was excited to see the new version. Installed it, tried to get over the ugly purple and missing features, then immediately went back to the previous version. No added benefit for me and v.10 just worked great. Thanks for that great version!
No keypad, only one instance, i like it dark but this is a very ugly color -> mv SpeedCrunch .Trash
@Anonymous: That's fine, thanks for letting me know. The missing feature that you mentioned will be back in the next version, as I already replied several times in this thread. Just wanted to make sure that you're aware that you can easily choose other color schemes in the Settings menu.
Other Anonymous: The ugly color can be worked around by trying one of the other color schemes available in the Settings menu. The keypad will be back and most likely the option to open more instances.
@Helder, don't let anon nay-sayers affect you, speedcrunch is great! I have no need for a virtual num pad and I can't really relate to that request... but I appreciate that you're trying to please so many users. Great program, best calculator replacement in my opinion.
Only bug I would report is when the textbox buffer is full the scrolling isn't always consistent. Some times while typing another calculation the textbox scrolls back to a page or so up. Not a huge deal, just a minor inconvenience that seems fixable.
Thanks again, keep up the good work!
I could've used the numberpad.
@Toe: thanks for the kind words, glad you love it. I've seen that bug some times, but it seems to be very unpredictable and I couldn't so far find a pattern to reproduce constantly. If you know how to do it, please file a bug in the tracker.
@Frodo: you'll have it back in the next release.
Don't make it 1.0 cuz a whole number signals the product is finally complete, which SC certainly ain't. Wine made that mistake although it certainly can't work with almost everything Window$.
@rautamiekka: There will definitely be at least a 0.12 in between.
Hi there, great work! Can you please add another display theme that looks like the old speedcrunch? Or at least one that takes colours from the system theme. I find the choice of theme colours very strange (non-standard I mean). The old theme with alternating dark and light lines (taken from kde list theming) had a point: make it easy to distinguish statements from results.
Thanks!
any chance we will see a new version of SpeedCrunch with the onscreen keyboard and other stuff anytime soon?
How soon will depend on my spare time.
Thanks for the update!
Obrigado pelo update!
I prefer the old design, bring back the keypad!!!
@Elle: You can have the old design back by choosing "Standard" in the Settings > Display > Color Scheme menu.
Helder,
Great new version BUT...
please, please
bring back the Keypad!!.
Also, any plans for Calculus functions ?
...Derivatives / Integrals (single,double,triple)...
SFer: I'll say it again: keypad will be back next release :) No plans for any particular set of functions, contributions very welcome.
I just want you to know I've been using Speedcrunch for years. It's like having pocket knife with you at all times. It can't handle everything but it's your go-to tool for most everything. Thank you very much for continuing the project.
@Kyle: thank you for the kind and encouraging words. Hopefully, 0.12 will cover more features you need.
I just wanted to say I love SpeedCruch and can't wait for the next version.
I used it the other day with my 8 year old son after for some reason they introduced calculators in class. His simple school calculator in class one did not understand math order of precedence. He was playing around and beyond what school wanted and getting wrong answers. I showed him the right stuff on SpeedCrunch. I have seen him now pull up SpeedCrunch himself now a few times.
Keep up the great work!
Alan
@Alan: Your story made me smile and reminded me why I love working on this when I get the time. Thank you :)
I switched from SC to awk "BEGIN { print $* }", even before SC lost its keypad. :o)
Old icon was more readable. New is not bad, but is to complicated and, when is small, it is hard to recognize.
Of course this is only a cosmetic problem.
However, great work :)
About the small icon being hard to recognize: is this on Windows? There is an issue with the Windows icon. Hope to fix it next release.
One minor suggestion and a simi-silly semi-serious suggestion :)
For the functions that convert from one number type to another like bin, oct, dec, hex (not sure if I missed any). It would be nice if the function name/description had the word word convert in. Thus in the search box if one typed "convert" all the related functions wold come up for what you could convert "to".
i.e.
hex: Convert to Hexadecimal Representation
or
hex: Hexadecimal Representation Conversion
Then my "semi-silly/semi-serious suggestion. My son and I were talking about Romain Numerals (same son I mentioned in previous post). And trying to convert those to standard decimal. While I remember some of that, it can also be a pain for some.
Have you considered a rom() function and number entry in the format of 0rxII?
I did see a few implementations of such a conversion some looked to be OSS (did not review licenses).
Just a fun side suggestion.
thanks for a great tool!
Alan
@Alan, I like both suggestions a lot. Do you mind adding an entry in the tracker instead so that it doesn't get lost?
thanks for the feed back i added two new issues 509 and 510.
I did not make them as issues at first as I was not sure how you would feel and did not want to clutter the issue tracker with stuff you did not want to do.
thanks and good luck.
Alan
Silly question
How do you do power's in Speedcrunch?
Excel would do it as 5^2 = 25
or =power(5,2) = 25
neither worked....
I saw exponent, but not power
http://chargerisk.com/science/power-expo.php
@Alan, 5^2 has to work. Are you sure you're not using a different character from the regular circumflex? Try copying and pasting from my expression above.
@$%$@#!@# I could of sworn it was not working the the the other day when i tested it Not sure what I did then vs now but it is working....
sorry for the confusion.
Quick one: How can I disable bold fonts when typing? I can only adjust the fonts of the results.
Thanks,
Kurt.
@Kurt: please see here https://code.google.com/p/speedcrunch/issues/detail?id=495 - For next release, the input font will be the same as the results one.
Hi, we have a Linux distribution for math testing for students normally using windows computers. It's used by thousands of students in the city of Lund, Sweden. You would really expect a keyboard on a calculator as default so please bring it back (noticed you would! Great!)... and thanks for the software and effort!
Thanks for this amazing piece of software.
I still use the version 0.10.1. In my opinion it is the best released version so far.
About the newer releases…well let’s say I prefer to use Microsoft Calculator!
Take this as a single opinion. Of course you need to take into account also other’s people opinions. In the end, it’s your program, you decide what to do with it.
All I can say is thank you very much for the awesome version 0.10.1! I use it every single day.
I really like the new speedcrunch. I'm glad this project is not dead. Bonus points for making the switch to github!
No more keypad?? Unfortunately.. Every calculator should have it. I think the keypad is useful for newbie.. So it can be as enable/disable option.
I saw a few updated to to on GitHub. Does that mean you have found some time to get back into development?
.... excited...
thanks
Alan
@Alan: lots of updates since 0.11, in part thanks to other contributors. But time is only a fraction of what I and you wished. Slowly adding and fixing stuff when possible.
Fuck Yeah!
Great piece of software. I needed something better than MS Calculator, but lighter and quicker to start than Matlab for math homework.
But how about the possibility to define own functions, as one can define/declare variables? I obviously see the dangers, I want it to be easy to use and if every possible functionality is added I'm back at Matlab.
But ability to add own function definitions to the function-list could be useful, maybe even an import/export thing for sharing functions would be possible. The reason it could work is that it would not make the user interface any different, you wold just see more lines in the function list. And the function definition form would be hidden in a menu item you can click.
Of course I don't know the internal architecture of the software. If the functions are hard coded in like the "core" of your code it can be difficult to implement something like this.
User functions are ready for next release, see https://code.google.com/p/speedcrunch/issues/detail?id=38
(The Anonymous guy, November 5, 2014 at 11:11 PM)
Thanks for quick answer! Love that you actually read and answer the comments, not everyone do...
The discussion you linked to covers all my thoughts. If I had a vote, I would vote against scripting abilities. The simplicity is important, in my opinion.
But this is OK:
fact(n) = n == 0 ? 1 : n * fact(n-1)
But this is approximately where the line should be drawn. Anything more advanced and you are too close to the point where people start comparing it to Matlab and similar software. It want it to be considered as a calculator I assume?
Anyways, looking forward to next release. And thank you again!
You've pretty much summarized my thoughts on simplicity. We're on the same page :)
Bought awesome Winbook tablet, installed awesome Speedcrunch calculator I have loved for ages, saw no input panel. Activated facepalm.
Thanks for promising to bring it back next release!
@Anomymous: Out of curiosity, could you explain why the SpeedCrunch keypad is better than the Windows one? I'm assuming it comes up when you touch on the input field.
sorry, i loved past versions, can you reput the keypad?! pls :)
Thanks you for the updates
@Helder ... uhh, no. This isn't a Metro app, but a desktop one. There is no auto-keyboard in such a case. I use the most desktop-like keyboard by default.
I *could* swap keyboards to the more mobile-like one and then pull up numeric input, then reverse the steps to go back to typing, but that is entirely ridiculous when keypad-enabled calculators are a download a dozen.
Hope that helps.
Also, SpeedCrunch 0.10.1 is crashing on this device if I try to pull up the side windows. For others who might end up here: use the last "-trunk" installer from here to get it working.
https://code.google.com/p/speedcrunch/issues/detail?id=196
Re: comment #52 there, I initially set up w/o a MS account but then up/downgraded to one and only tried it after.
Nevermind ... SpeedCrunch-trunk is severely unstable after the first load. The input area was white-on-white, the program initiated an uncommanded change to octal result format, and didn't react properly to my format change.
Thanks for the memories, and see you next version!
@Anonymous Decemeber 6: It'd be rather useful if you could let me know exactly how you are building and running the latest development code. Nothing that you described should be happening. What OS and Qt version are you on?
I have been a user of speed crunch for about two years, since then it is been my favorite tool for all mathematical calculation.
The latest version is great. But the numpad is missing. I think this is not needed also but there must be an area for other mathematical functions like sin, cos, pi, log etc. As many new users don't know how much can be done with it unless all these important functions are shown. So, in my opinion we don't need numpad but there must be a space below input area showing all possible functions and which can be inserted by any user by just clicking to it.
Now for some bad news for some of you: the virtual keypad is gone. ... itabletkeyboard.blogspot.com
I don't get the recent change in philosophy for software engineers, computer scientists, etc. in that "If is isn't broke...change it!"
You have done this in 0.11, M$ does it all the time, and I could list hundreds of other software companies that are falling into this horrible trend.
You install a new version of some application and then you think: "Why did they do that? What could possibly have driven them to remove feature X? It was so damn useful."
Or a complete GUI change for no apparent reason except to be trendy. Doesn't matter if the new layout doesn't work or not. The end user be damned...you will just have to conform or stop using it.
The only thing SC needed was exactly what you have not yet provided: user functions! Everything in 0.11 are superficial enhancements at best.
I'll continue to use 0.10.1 or maybe just start using my HP 20S again...it's around here somewhere.
@Anonymous Dec 29: Thanks for your feedback. My answers below.
> You have done this in 0.11, M$ does it all the time
Except this project has been (very slowly) developed (mostly) by one person in the last 9 years, for free. That same person could have many times used his spare time with his kids, or work more on that full-time job that actually pays the bills, but chose to work on SpeedCrunch, on features and bugs that he didn't care about.
> "Why did they do that? It was so damn useful."
I'll assume you're talking about the keypad, but it applies to any feature. I don't recall ever reading from you or anyone else on how you liked it so much. In fact, from the hundreds of private and public messages from users that I've received in these years, I don't remember ever reading about how wonderful any of the removed features was for them.
> Or a complete GUI change for no apparent reason except to be trendy.
Not sure what complete GUI change you're talking about. There was no such thing in 0.11 apart from keypad removal.
> Doesn't matter if the new layout doesn't work or not.
What new layout are you talking about? What exactly doesn't work for you? Bug reports appreciated (https://code.google.com/p/speedcrunch/issues).
> The end user be damned...you will just have to conform or stop using it.
Of course you'll have to conform to changes in a project that you don't pay for and don't continuously give feedback to. I make a huge effort to reply to every single person that comments here, on the mailing list, or privately. Every new release is the result of fixing the bugs reported by users and features requested by users. A huge percentage of them is added in each release, with priority to bug fixes. If some don't get some love, it's because I could use some help.
> The only thing SC needed was exactly what you have not yet provided: user functions!
And that was exactly the priority that I mentioned for 0.12, and has been ready for a while (thanks, Tey!).
> Everything in 0.11 are superficial enhancements at best.
Really? Did you read the links I published in the article? 42 bug fixes and 39 new features, not accounting for what is not on the tracker. Across 3 operating systems. Is all of it superficial for you? I don't even have a Windows or Mac machine. Would you like to sponsor one? I could get you a release every month and prioritize the features and bugs you care about.
@ Helder Correia
1st a HUGE thanks for your AWESOME work in SpeedCrunch!
I use it nearly every day and sometimes many times in the same day, the only think I liked you to change is a Multi-Instance option even if that means loosing all history except the one from the last closed window.
BTW you was excellent in the answer for 'Anonymous (2014/12/29 13:58)'.
@ Anonymous (2014/12/29 13:58)
Just STOP the f*c* up with whining if you don't like some of the changes just tell the dev your concerns about that and may help him donating some $ or something else, because doing what you did especially in an 'anonymous' user form is just lame and pathetic, you could have some point right if you have PAID for this app and/or if the dev have make some promises and didn't delivered but as it is you have none right whatsoever!
@Newtomic: Thank you for the kind words. Some good news for you regarding multiple instances: https://code.google.com/p/speedcrunch/issues/detail?id=529
@ Helder Correia
About the multiple instances thanks! :-)
Is it possible to get a Nightly build or something? :-P
I tryed to find something like that but without success in:
- https://github.com/speedcrunch/SpeedCrunch
- https://bitbucket.org/heldercorreia/speedcrunch/downloads
- https://code.google.com/p/speedcrunch
I don't mind to be a beta/alpha/nightly tester if you want/need some! :-)
I'd love to have nightly/somewhat frequent builds for all supported platforms. For now, we have Felix Krull's builds for Ubuntu: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/speedcrunch/QxBwdXPipAM
If someone can help me with Windows/OSX please let me know.
Hi, is there a way to define dot for decimals instead of comma? I am using Linux Mint 17. Thanks!
@Julio: it sounds like you're using version 0.10. IIRC, it will infer the separator from your system settings. If you use version 0.11, you can customize it via the 'Result Format > Radix Character' menu.
I’m glad that Linux Mint still has version 0.10.1 in the repositories. I prefer the on-screen keypad.
Love it! Finally added just comma without need to put 0 at the beginning! Thank You!
a calculator is only used occasionally, so having a keypad really helps
Been using Speedcrunch for years, my goto desktop calculator because of the visible history.
but I miss the keypad greatly. Especially on a tablet or laptop.
Please consider adding it again, maybe with an on/off toggle....
Cheers. WH
is there a place I can download an older version for Windows with the keypad ?
WH
You can download 0.10.1 from here.
Thanks for maintaining this app, I use it almost every day and I'd throw a donation your way if it was possible.
I'll echo the confusion regarding the new website. It's very confusing.
I'd also really like the return of being able to click on an old calculation to copy it into the input field as well as a real scrollbar.
Thanks again for taking the time to build and maintain SpeedCrunch!
Thank you for SpeedCrunch - i have it installed at every computer that I use.
any chance of a new version anytime soon?
A new release is unlikely (not to say impossible) in the immediate future.
Hello!
I have a proposal to add following function: auto-conversion of mistyped radix character.
The reason is that I have multiple keyboard layouts with different position of symbols "comma" and "dot", so there is a very frequent situation of mistyping of radix character and time loss for manual searching and correcting calculation string (it may be very long).
I would like to see in new version of the program ability to enable auto-conversion mistyped symbols in typed calculation string (comma-to-dot or vice versa).
Thank you for good software. It really helped me and my student friends.
@Dmitriy S: in 0.11 both comma and dot are automatically recognized as the radix character. Unless I misunderstood your issue, I think this feature solves it. BTW, a better place for feature requests is the tracker.
I am using portable version 0.10.1, maybe there is newer version without such behavior.
I mean the situation when I'm mechanically typing comma character in Ukrainian charset and trying to calculate the string when the dot character is selected as radix character in the menu. In this situation I'm getting error, remembering that I need to correct my string and replace all commas to dots. This takes some time. In such situation I would like to get question from the program like "Comma detected against dot. Replace to dot? Yes/No" and auto-replacing in case of selecting "Yes".
I saw there have been a bunch of small features added to the Git Repository. Could not tell if the virtual keyboard was one or not, but been hoping thing had settled down so a new version could come along.
I thought I had found a good alternate with http://preccalc.sourceforge.net/, but like SpeedCrunch better.
@Dmitriy S: As I mentioned above, you won't have that issue if you use version 0.11.
@Alan Jones: The keypad is not there yet, but it will be there for the next release. You can follow the associated tracker entry.
Downloaded and installed portable version 0.11. Thank you.
Thank you so much. I can't believe I did not know about Speedcrunch before. The keyboard-oriented interface is a breeze. Keep up the good work!
please dear lord bring back the keypad. i use speedcrunch 0.10.1 every day with the keypad.
also, 0.11 has a bug on windows 7 where the cursor disappears every other character you type. or if you arrow through the command line the cursor blinks out the same way.
thanks for all your hard work!
@Anonymous July 10: Please report any bugs/feature requests here instead.
Wow, where has this been my whole life. Love everything about it; the syntax highlighting, the 'current result' popup tooltip thing, the formulas page, command completion and suggestion, and the minimalist interface. Great job.
For those of you missing the keypad, try this work-around. This works on Windows (8.1). This technique may/should work on other OSs.
Create a batch file called (e.g.) 'sc_osk.bat' with the following commands:
start SpeedCrunch.exe
start osk.exe
The first command launches SpeedCrunch. The second command launches the Windows On-Screen Keyboard. Configure the On-Screen Keyboard to display the number pad (this will give easy access to divide, multiply, subtract, add). Resize and re-position the keyboard to taste. You will need to close two windows to 'exit' (the SpeedCrunch window and the on-screen keyboard window). The next time you run sc_osk.bat, the two windows will appear in the same position. Note: The on-screen keyboard will float 'above' all other windows, obscuring them.
It's far from a perfect solution, but might work for some.
This won't work if focus-follows-mouse is enabled.
Amazing calculator. The on-screen keyboard won't be missed. If you're serious about your calculations not only should you use the keyboard, you have to use the numpad too!
any word on new updates?
Hi, Alan. I can't tell you when 0.12 will be released. My wish is 1-2 months if we find the time to finish things up, but no promises. Please have a look at everything that is coming up: https://bitbucket.org/heldercorreia/speedcrunch/issues?milestone=0.12
Helder, Great list of changes in 0.12, got me even more excited.... looks like you all really close... Hopefully you all can find the time. I might add if 0.12 seems stable after being out for a few weeks to a month why not re-release it a 1.0? Then some people not used to OSS numbering will feel more comfortable.
keep up the good work.
Getting excited!
Alan
@Alan: Thanks. Meanwhile, you may want to try out the latest development build for Windows or Ubuntu and help us beta test 0.12. Yes, release 1.0 will definitely come after 0.12.
Hello Helder, thanks so much for your efforts and this great program! In the 0.12BETA however, is there a possibility to hide the menu? Enjoyed that feature in .11 quite much.
Thanks, Nick
Hi, Nick. Thanks for your kind words. WRT to your question, please refer to this issue in the tracker.
It has been a while since .12 had any code changes. Will it be published formally with the new website anytime soon?
I'm afraid I can't point you to a deadline. Summer is typically a slow period for open source projects. We're mostly having issues with producing MacOS packages, so if someone is reading this and can help, please write me or to the forum.
Thank you! You r the best!
Great work to make DOT and COMMA work together. It was last thing preventing SpeedCrunch usage sometimes.
Agree virt kbd sucks. Never use it.
The build path seems to have changed:
https://github.com/Tey/speedcrunch-nightlies/releases
master-93f65724d8bff33fa71681cc7ed411f1deb787e9
Dot and comma work together?
25,1
= 25,1e0
25.1
= 251e0
Needs to be enabled in Settings first.
25,1
= 25,1e0
25.1
= 25,1e0
Great! Another feature might be an option to automatically replace comma with dot.
Also I like the bit fields a lot.
Some observations:
- "invalid expression" hint on selection in history
- bit fields: don't flow and take up 4 bytes width. Maybe there's a way to manage this in Qt?
- bit fields: no hint on buttons: reset, shift, invert
- I can't remember which F key selects which result format. Maybe these can be enumerated in the status bar (where current format is shown)?
Well, thanks for sharing!
Regarding the hidden menu trap:
- change window title to contain hint on how to enable menu
- only use hotkey to start with. people that use it will probably know.
- add item to window title bar context menu
- float transparent enable widget in top corner of history
Another idea:
add View menu item to show/hide/toggle all
Uh, sorry, another idea for the output format: SI prefixes, e.g. k for e3.
@Anonymous: Thanks for your feedback. The issue tracker (preferred) or the forum are better places for suggestions and bug reporting, though.
Hello!
I have found one unpleasant UX behavior: when I'm occasionally plugging to my laptop with 1366x768 (WXGA) screen resolution external 1080p monitor and leaving the SpeedCrunch's window out of WXGA zone, after unplugging external monitor (and even closing the window) it still remembers the screen position out of WXGA zone, even after re-starting the application. Of cause, I can press Alt+Space, select "Move" and turn the window into correct zone using arrow keys, but I would expect auto-checking window position during app startup and automatic moving it in cause if the position is out visible zone. A lot of other software do such checking.
Graphical representation of this case:
http://s102.fotosklad.org.ua/20161108/f/505f206659a0a5bdc6cbb6191acf8be9.png
Thank you. WBR, Dmitriy
Hi, Dmitriy. Thank you for your feedback. Please report your bug on the issue tracker instead, so that it doesn't get lost and we can discuss and look at it it in an organized way. Cheers
Thank you.
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