Nspire Info Programming

The programming for the Nspire is very similar to the 68k series. However, the Nspire simply isn't part of it. For one thing, the Nspire has no graph screen, or even a home screen. Everything is formed with documents, problems, and pages. You can have a document, problems within that document, and pages within those problems. Even though everything within a document is connected in some way, the calculator doesn't seem capable of accessing other pages or problems without manual control. Because of this limitation, the calculator has no graphing commands. It lost commands like Pt-On( and Line(. Anything under the Draw category has been deleted. The Draw command was the basis of advanced graphics, so that means the Nspire cannot produce any games with any sort of graphics, even though its resolution is so many times better than that of older models.

Furthermore, the calculator has no home screen. Instead, it uses a very strict line by line layout. The calculator deals with an operation or command very systematically. Until the calculator completes an assigned command or operation, it will not let the user interfere. New inputs are automatically in a new line. This sounds a lot like other calculators completing operations without interruption. However, this becomes a huge problem when pertaining to programs. The Nspire does the same thing to programs; it doesn't allow user interference. That means that the calculator will not accept user input until the program is finished. That defeats the purpose of programs. If you can't input anything, what use is programing? It happens that the program accepts input before a program is executed, but not during. So, to make a program with the same effects of programs in 68k or 83 family BASIC, you have to create multiple programs that must each be individually accessed, which becomes incredibly cumbersome.

So, the calculator is terrible at programming. It can't produce graphics or advanced layouts, and it won't accept input. So what use is programing on an Nspire. Truthfully, if you want to program, don't get the Nspire. Simply put, there is no real way to work around these obstacles. However, the regular Nspire comes with an 84+ keypad. It has all the capabilities of a regular TI-84+. Thing is, even though the calculator has capabilities of using extreme resolution, the 84+ keypad doesn't utilize it. So it's still not all that good.

So what if I already have an Nspire? Don't worry. If it comes with the 84+ keypad, go ahead and use that to program. In any case, the Nspire is definitely superior in math. Through sacrifice of programing capabilities, it has gained many useful math tools. For example, it checks primes, has trigonometric functions like secant and cotangent, a newly optimized numerical solver, point plot er, geometry grapher, spreadsheets, and more. It even utilizes templates, so instead of writing a math equation like ((3+4)/(5(6+3))^4, the calculator can write it as (3+45(6+3))4 instead. The Nspire also can hold numbers way higher than 1E100. So, it is superior in math (which can be a real big help on math tests!), but not a good programming apparatus.