How do you calculate?

[Nadav Har'El]

For years, I've been wondering: How do other Unix or Linux users do simple
calculations?

Do you take out an actual physical calculator (which is of course ridiculous)?
Do you use software that looks like a physical calculator (xcalc, kcalc, etc.)?

Or do you use bc? Does anyone actually use bc, which returns "0" as a result
for the calculation "2/3"? :-) Of course, you can use "scale=10" (or the -l
option to bc) to fix that, but how many first-time users would know that?
What posessed the person who decided to make scale=0 the default? :-)

What I have been using myself, is my own version of Kernighan & Pike's "Hoc"
(see http://nadav.harel.org.il/homepage/hoc/). But since this didn't catch on,
as didn't the original Hoc (which was available in Research Unix and Plan 9,
but not anywhere else), unfortunately I'm one of the few who do. All of the
rest are missing on the convenience of Hoc ;-)

So I was wondering - how come there isn't more pressure on the Linux
distributions to include a decent and convenient calculator language?
Or do people consider what is available decent enough already?

Nadav.

-- 
Nadav Har'El                        |      Thursday, May 20 2010, 7 Sivan 5770
nyh at math.technion.ac.il             |-----------------------------------------
Phone +972-523-790466, ICQ 13349191 |Despite the cost of living, have you
http://nadav.harel.org.il           |noticed how it remains so popular?