I certainly got a lot of educational value out of mine. I managed to program a fully functional Minesweeper game on mine, using the built-in programming tools - no transferring efficient binaries via cable!

But yes. 99% of what we did with them in class - when we were even allowed to use them - could have been handled by a little solar-powered calculator with basic arithmetic functions.

▲

joebates 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Programming mine in high school is how I ended up coding for the first time and led to my current career. Honestly a pretty good investment (from my parents) I'd say.

	▲	beeandapenguin 18 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Same for me, it was also my first time ever seeing code, and I still remember it well. While getting ready for swim practice in a locker room, my friend challenged me to beat his score on a button mashing game he programmed earlier that day in school on his TI-84. My 12 year old self was in awe of his BASIC skills.
	▲	mrguyorama an hour ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		Same. I bounced off a python 2 tutorial and a C tutorial, but some random nobody's TI-BASIC tutorial that started really damn easy is how I became a Computer Scientist. I eventually figured out python too! I made my own game and got a little notoriety around the school for it.
	▲	w0m 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		same. My first real exposure to coding was hacking Drug Wars on my brothers old ti-89 in math class.

▲

hrunt 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

In my school, I was part of a group of students who hand-programmed games on TI-81 or TI-82 calculators using TI-BASIC. No cable transfers. Games included: Hangman, Missile Command, Minesweeper, and R-Type. Looking back, it was really amazingly impressive. Both what those calculators could do and how much free time we had to make them do it.

	▲	mordechai9000 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I programmed a Mandelbrot generator on my TI-81 (if I remember the model correctly) when I should have been paying attention in class. Entering the code was slow and painful - fortunately the algorithm is fairly simple. The batteries lasted forever, until one day I set the bailout to a ridiculously high value, given the limited resolution, and walked away.

▲

hoistbypetard 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

We made multi-player games over the link cables in the early 1990s. We certainly learned a ton from building those. It's not clear how much the calculators added to the math and chemistry classes where we were supposed to use them.

▲

charcircuit an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

You could get that same educational value from programming things on a smartphone.

▲

kstrauser 43 minutes ago | parent [-]

What's your favorite free programming environment for commonly used smartphones?

	▲	charcircuit 14 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		I don't have a favorite. I do not feel like anyone that I am aware of has made proper investment to make a quality development app for mobile due to the low market demand. While development is better than on a calculator I think they are below my expectations.