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@@ -0,0 +1,183 @@ +abakus, by Michael Pyne <[email protected]> +Version: 0.91 + +This is my attempt at creating a light-calculator based on Roberto Alsina's +initial usability suggestions, and based on the ideas of a few other KDE +hackers. + +This software is distributed under the terms of the GNU GPL v2. + +Synopsis: + $ tar xvjf abakus-0.91.tar.bz2 + $ cd abakus-0.91 + $ ./configure && make && make install + $ abakus + +Type away, and press Enter to see the result. + +Changes since 0.90: +* Add ability to remove all functions and variables to the context menus of + their respective list boxes. +* Convert out-of-range numbers to NaN. +* Accept "," as a decimal separator for the benefit of European users. +* Use correct decimal separator (per KLocale settings) in output. +* For long results, show the beginning instead of the end of the result, + since the beginning is the most significant part of the result. + +Changes since 0.85: +* You now have the option of using the GNU Multiple Precision library for + high-precision mathematics. It requires the MPFR library to also be + installed (normally comes with GNU MP 4.x). It is used automatically if + detected. +* Jes Hall has contributed DocBook documentation to make Abakus integrate into + KDE even more tightly. Thanks, Jes! +* User defined functions can now be defined over. +* Error handling with deriv() function improved. +* Ariya Hidayat's name was misspelled everywhere in Abakus. Sorry, Ariya. :( +* Speaking of Ariya, Abakus now uses the impressive user interface code from + his SpeedCrunch calculator (http://speedcrunch.berlios.de/). This includes + the Calc-as-you-Type tooltip, the function and variable dropdown, and + syntax highlighting. It's not configurable at this point, expect that in + the next release. +* You can use the F6 key to select the expression editor if you're a big fan + of the keyboard. +* Raising negative numbers to integral powers should work with the internal + high-precision library now. +* You can no longer deselect the current precision menu item. +* Fix crash bug when a user-defined function refers to another user-defined + function, and then you remove or edit the function it referred to. +* Add exact numerical derivatives for all functions supported. +* Added the asinh, acosh, and atanh functions. +* Fixed bug with loading of prior compact mode status. +* Fixed bug where result text had wrong precision when you changed the + precision and tried drag-and-drop. +* Drag-and-drop improvements. +* Fixed bug where Custom Precision menu entry was checked even if you canceled + the dialog. +* Made hyperbolic functions consistently ignore trigonometric mode. (Both + Degrees and Radians make no sense for hyperbolic trig). +* Whew! :) + +v0.85 adds a lot: +* Improvements to the configure script. Since I didn't end up using libCLN it + was mostly for naught, but the changes will be useful for the future. +* abakus now uses the high-precision math routines from Ariya Hidayat's + SpeedCrunch program. Thanks, Ariya! +* High precision arithmetic can have between 0 and 75 digits of precision. +* Support for approximate derivatives. For most functions the derivatives will + be numerically accurate. For those functions where I didn't feel like typing + in the exact form of the derivative an approximation is used instead. +* Implicit multiplication has been added to the parser. That means you can + type stuff like "3 sin pi" without having to manually add the * in between + 3 and sin. This also works with numbers and variables, and numbers and + parenthesized expressions. +* GUI changes. The main result view now uses KListView, so it gains tooltip + support for long answers for free, along with a bevy of other improvements. +* You can right-click on an answer and copy it to the clipboard. +* Corrected information in the about box. +* Restarting abakus with compact mode enabled should is much improved. + +v0.80.2 fixed an issue with the configure script for people who don't have +exactly the same version of Python I do, and forcibly prevents flex/bison +errors. + +v0.80.1 fixed an issue with the configure script for people who don't already +have scons installed. + +Major changes since 0.76: +* There is no more C code to interface between the parser and program. +* RPN mode is improved. Now the stack is retained between calls, and there + are a few commands only in RPN mode: + 1. pop - Return the top of the stack. + 2. clear - Clear the stack. +* bksys is used instead of the custom Makefiles. +* Lots of code cleanups, including license headers. +* The nifty drag-and-drop image looks more rectangular, and is used with the + two listviews on the right as well. +* Improved error checking, with messages that should hopefully be more + descriptive. + +Major changes since 0.75: +* Reorder internal macro so that functions are declared *before* they're + referenced, which helps build the program on systems with math.h files that + don't export the long double version of their math functions. +* Hitting a number or letter key right after evaluating an expression in RPN + mode automatically prepends the 'ans' variable, which was a feature of the + Normal mode. + +Major changes since 0.70: +* Build system switched (somehow) to using qmake. The parser and lexer are + still included, so bison and flex are still not required. Hopefully this + will improve the ease of building. Of course, this means no more colored + make output. +* Changed most of the keyboard shortcuts to use Shift + Alt + foo instead of + Alt + foo since that was interfering with the menu bar. +* RPN mode!! If you enable RPN mode, then your expressions will be evaluated + using the Reverse Polish Notation popular with users of HP calculators. Note + that although you can use values and functions while in RPN mode, you cannot + set or remove them from the expression editor like you can in normal mode. +* abakus will display a small token starting with a dollar sign ($) in italics + next to results. You can use these tokens to quickly reference a result in + your expression. The most recent result is always $0, with the number + increasing from most recent to least recent result. For example, typing + 2 <Enter> 3 <Enter> $0 ^ $1 <Enter> would give a result of 9. +* You can right click on functions and values in the list views to remove them + from the GUI. +* Changed the result items to use word wrapping when needed to fit all the + text. +* Very small DCOP interface. +* More code cleanup. +* Added a .desktop file. +* Test client removed again. +* Double-clicking on an error message (or OK message) no longer inserts them + into the edit box. + +Major changes since 0.61: +* User defined Functions. +* Save state of program between runs. +* Miscellaneous fun stuff. + +Currently implemented features: +* Parser built using flex and bison. The generated files are included so it + should compile fine for you. +* Fully C++. The parser and lexer code require C++ to compile. +* Supports several built-in functions: + - sin, cos, tan, sinh, cosh, tanh, asin, acos, atan in either radian or + degree mode. + abs, exp (e raised to the given power), ln, log (base 10), + sqrt, ceil, floor +* Supported operators: +, -, *, /, ^ (or **). +* Includes a window showing the values and user-defined functions you have. +* Predefined constants: pi, and e (Euler' constant). +* You can assign to variables by using an expression of the form: + identifier = expression. You can then reuse these variables later. +* You can create user-defined functions of one variable using the syntax + set foo(var) = <expr>, where <expr> calculates the value in terms of var. +* You can delete user-defined variables by doing: remove var +* You can delete user-defined functions by doing: remove foo(). Notice that + the variable is NOT included in that expression. +* Functions and variables are saved on exit, and then loaded when abakus is + started again. +* The ans variable contains the result of the last computation. +* Pressing +, -, *, or / immediately after your last computation automatically + inserts ans for you, saving you typing. +* A compact mode for the program. +* Operator precedence should be correct, including the right association of + the power operator. So, 2 ^ 3 ^ 2 == 512, just as it does when you write + it out. You can use parentheses to force precedence. +* Parentheses are not required around functions. So, sin 3 is a valid + expression. Note that sin 3 + cos 4 translates internally as (sin 3) + + (cos 4), not as sin (3 + cos (4)). +* I took some pains to try to make things like 3 + -2 work right. +* inf and nan are accepted as numeric input for completeness. +* abakus will automatically add ) characters to the end of the expression as + needed to balance your expression. This means that expressions like + sin (cos (2 + 3 will evaluate with no error. +* A rudimentary RPN mode is included. Most everything works, except for + derivatives and creating functions or new variables. + +Bugs: +* More functions would be nice. +* The lexer assumes that the decimal marker is a period. (.) I'm not exactly + sure how to cleanly solve this problem with flex. :-( +* Documentation could be better. |