dAbacus 1.0

Thanks for choosing dAbacus. Although this program is for fun, I wrote it for a purpose. I had a problem that needed to be solved and decided to write a palm program to help. In keeping with a good programming philosophy, I decided to write the program to not only solve my own dilemma, but make it as broad as possible so other people could use it for other purposes. My conclusion was to create an abacus. I have added various features to the program to make it very useful.

This program is free, but...

...I want to know how you use it. I want to keep a list of the many ways people use the program. Be creative. Just e-mail me with your use or post a review for the software to palmgear.com.

How to use the abacus:

I've tried to make this as intuitive as possible, but just in case you can't read my mind, here’s how it goes:

• Tap the bead that you want to move. The bottom 5 beads each hold a value of one. The top 2 beads each hold a value of 5. These values are multiplied by 10 per column to the left of the first. Once you have a value greater than 10 in a column, the abacus automatically rounds the value to the column to the left.
• If you would like to account for decimals, use the page-up/down hard button. This moves the decimal bar.
• You can copy the value into the clipboard from the "Ftns" menu or c-shortcut.
• You can change the color of the bead or bars from the "Prefs" menu.

Hints

The Internet has lots of great resources describing how to use an abacus. A couple of the sites which I found helpful are...

• The Abacus: The Art of Calculating with Beads
• The Abacus Handbook

Version History:

1.0

Full Release

• Removed "Palm" from name to avoid major lawsuit due to my freeware program.
• Fixed "flashing" problem by drawing the abacus with a completely different method.
• Beads are now Hi-Res (if device is compatible).
• You can now copy the resulting abacus number into any program that supports the PalmOS clipboard.
• You can select the colors for the beads or rods (if device is compatible).
• The program "saves" the number when you exit it, so you can continue upon returning to the program.
• Commas are added to the display to make it easier to read the number. The commas are not copied when using the copy/paste functions.
• Work with decimals! A decimal bar will appear when you press the up/down scroll key on your device. This will also move the decimal bar. The decimal IS copied when you use the copy/paste function.
• The program is even smaller (by 1 kilobyte)! Whoopie-do!

0.961

Fixed minor errors.

0.96

First Release

My programming philosophy:

• Keep it small. In the original PalmOS handhelds, an inherit limitation was their small memory. This is understandable because handhelds were never meant to replace your PC, just supplement it's use. Since then they have much more memory and even faster processors. Still, I endeavor to keep my program small so you can have more space on your handheld for more important things.
• Keep it simple. Handheld computers are supposed to make your life easier, and this program is designed to follow that philosophy by not complicating the program with too many bells and whistles that only a few people would use. Although some have made some suggestions of how to tailor the program for their profession, I have choose to keep the program as broad as possible so more people could use it. Consequently, this also keeps the program small.
• Keep it stable. The truth is, Palm-style handhelds never turn their power off! If a program, however, causes the handheld to crash, you might just have to restart it - which could mean that you would loose all the information stored on it. Also, because of they way handhelds work, a program could potentially damage the information stored in other programs. This is why I have tested this program extensively before releasing it. Besides, I use it myself, and I don't want anything like this to happen to my handheld!
• Keep it inexpensive. Some web sites that distribute PalmOS software are suggesting that most palm programs are under priced. They argue that customers would, on average, pay much more for a program than they usually cost. Writing programs for handheld computers is a hobby of mine. Because I don't live off the money from the program, I can offer it for less.

If you have questions, comments, suggestions, or complaints, please contact me at dizzysoft@email.com