Beautiful BC

[wa4chq 454]

Greeting's all.....  I was wondering if anyone else uses bc.  I don't use it all the time but I will if the Android phone isn't nearby.  Apparently bc can do more than basic calculations, which is all I use it for.  I just find it handy.   Have a great week!

[securitybreach 11,645]

Yeah, I have used bc for years anytime that I need to calculate something.

[V.T. Eric Layton 6,807]

What's bc?

 

Evidently, I've never used it.

[securitybreach 11,645]

Unix calculator

[saturnian 687]

I don't use it. I knew about, and I tried a few calculations back when I first learned about it, back when I was new to Linux.

 

I was surprised that the command was not found when I tried it Debian Testing, so I installed it just now. Looks like it could come in handy.

 

However, I use cal all the time! I prefer that command over any GUI calendar. Weird, cal isn't highlighting the current date (in Bullseye, at least). For that, ncal -C works. I don't do a lot with cal; usually I just run cal -3 (or ncal -C3).

[securitybreach 11,645]

Been around since 1975 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bc_(programming_language)

[V.T. Eric Layton 6,807]

Ah... no. I've never used it. I use galculator.

[securitybreach 11,645]

1 hour ago, V.T. Eric Layton said:

Ah... no. I've never used it. I use galculator.

 

At least try it. It works very well, especially if you are already in a terminal.

[saturnian 687]

I like galculator, too.

 

A few simple calculations with bc:

 

$ bc
bc 1.07.1
Copyright 1991-1994, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2012-2017 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
For details type `warranty'.
3^3
27
3^3-9
18
3^3-9+18
36
(3^3-9+18)/3
12
quit

 

[saturnian 687]

These days, I don't use a calculator for much, just some rather simple calculations. On systems where a DE is present, the default calculator app is usually fine. Otherwise, especially for Openbox and Fluxbox, I like to go with Galculator.

 

For kicks, I created a launcher for bc in Bullseye GNOME. This command starts bc in gnome-terminal:

 

gnome-terminal -- bc

 

So, here's my ~/.local/share/applications/bc.desktop file:

 

[Desktop Entry]
    Name=bc
    Exec=gnome-terminal -- bc
    Icon=org.gnome.Terminal
    Type=Application
    Categories=GTK;GNOME;Utility;

 

[wa4chq 454]

19 hours ago, securitybreach said:

Unix calculator

Not to be confused with a Eunuch's calculator.

 

[wa4chq 454]

19 hours ago, saturnian said:

 

Quote

However, I use cal all the time! I prefer that command over any GUI calendar. Weird, cal isn't highlighting the current date (in Bullseye, at least). For that, ncal -C works. I don't do a lot with cal; usually I just run cal -3 (or ncal -C3).

I use cal too.... like bc, very handy.