It is possible to program assembler on the various calculators but I am not
going to cover this now.
A few good facts about the TI-83:
The language is a built-in function to the TI-83 and above. It only
displays 10 digits. It might be possible to display more with some
modifications. There are endless mathematical functions and very few
real programming functions. The TI-83 executes the code in the order it has been
written. Unlike most kinds of tutorials, I will skip the "Hello World" and instead
go straight into the loops. The loops worth mentioning is the for, while and
repeat loops. There is another way to make a "loop". Like BASIC you can make a
label somewhere in your code; so, you can jump back later and start over from the
labeled place.
The syntax for the For loop is as follows.
For(variable, begin, end, growth)
commands go here
END
The for loop executes commands until the END command is reached. Variable is
then increased by growth until variable is bigger than end.
Notice that the For() is selected in the catalog. Press the 2nd button and
then catalog. It is important to notice the case. The function For() has two
small case charactors. The same thing goes for everything else (e.g. END != end).
You should get used to finding alot of your functions without going into the
catalog as it takes longer. When you are in the catalog you should notice in the
upper right corner of the screen is the A symbol for ALPHA which triggers the
ALPHA button. In catalog it is on A-Lock. So if you are trying to find the For()
loop you could press the F.
The While loop is as follows:
While condition
commands
END
As long as condition is true, commands will be executed.
The Repeat loop is kind of the opposite of the While loop. It is as follows:
Repeat condition
commands
END
Executes commands until condition is true.
Older TI calculators do not have a modulus function. Here is how you can make
the same function:
I will use the fpart() function to make the modulus function. The syntax for
fpart is as follows.
fpart(value)
It returns the fraction or parts of a real or a complex number.
fpart(7/5)
This returns the value 0.4.
The trick is that you can enter a fraction into fpart and then
multiply the answer with the denominator.
fpart(7/5)*5
This returns the value 2.
Some common functions, like the one Cyben used in his comment on Hacking Ti83,
is ClrHome. It is used to clear the screen, a good function to use in the
beginning of a program.
It is of course also possible to use some input/output functions in your
programs. I will not be covering the input/output functions here.
I am missing alot of functions here; so, please feel free to comment on where to
find more information.
Hope it was a fun read. |
The TI language made short
Copyright Open Source Institute, 2005 