In computing FOCAL character set refers to a group of 8-bit
single byte character set
Character encoding is the process of assigning numbers to graphical characters, especially the written characters of human language, allowing them to be stored, transmitted, and transformed using digital computers. The numerical values that ...
s introduced by
Hewlett-Packard
The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...
since 1979. It was used in several
RPN calculator
An electronic calculator is typically a portable electronic device used to perform calculations, ranging from basic arithmetic to complex mathematics.
The first solid-state electronic calculator was created in the early 1960s. Pocket-sized ...
s supporting the
FOCAL programming language, like the
HP-41C/
CV/
CX as well as the later
HP-42S
The HP-42S RPN Scientific is a programmable RPN Scientific hand held calculator introduced by Hewlett Packard in 1988. It has advanced functions suitable for applications in mathematics, linear algebra, statistical analysis, computer science and ...
,
which was introduced in 1988
and produced up to 1995. As such, it is also used by
SwissMicros
The Hewlett-Packard Voyager series of calculators were introduced by Hewlett-Packard in 1981. All members of this series are programmable, use Reverse Polish Notation, and feature continuous memory. Nearly identical in appearance, each model ...
'
DM41/
L, both introduced in 2015, and is implicitly supported by the
DM42, introduced in 2017 (although the later calculator utilizes
Free42, which is based on
Unicode
Unicode, formally The Unicode Standard,The formal version reference is is an information technology Technical standard, standard for the consistent character encoding, encoding, representation, and handling of Character (computing), text expre ...
internally).
Character set
The character set is derived from
ASCII
ASCII ( ), abbreviated from American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for electronic communication. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other devices. Because of ...
, but with the control code range and some high bit characters replaced by various special characters.
When Hewlett-Packard introduced the
HP-42S
The HP-42S RPN Scientific is a programmable RPN Scientific hand held calculator introduced by Hewlett Packard in 1988. It has advanced functions suitable for applications in mathematics, linear algebra, statistical analysis, computer science and ...
in 1988, the FOCAL character set was revised to include more characters, including a number of characters already provided by the
HP 82240A infrared
thermo printer, which had been introduced in 1986,
as part of its
extended variant of the 1985 revision of the
HP Roman-8
In computing HP Roman is a family of character sets consisting of HP Roman Extension, HP Roman-8, HP Roman-9 and several variants. Originally introduced by Hewlett-Packard around 1978, revisions and adaptations were published several times up ...
character set,
although at completely different code points.
There is no code point definition for the
euro sign
The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...
in this character set.
Translation from HP-42S character set to the
modified HP Roman-8
In computing HP Roman is a family of character sets consisting of HP Roman Extension, HP Roman-8, HP Roman-9 and several variants. Originally introduced by Hewlett-Packard around 1978, revisions and adaptations were published several times up ...
(supported by
HP 82240A
HP may refer to:
Businesses and organisations
* HP Inc., an American technology company
** Hewlett-Packard, the predecessor to HP Inc.
* HP Foods
** HP Sauce, formerly made by HP Foods
* Handley Page, an aircraft company
* Hindustan Petroleum
...
etc.) character set:
See also
*
Hewlett-Packard calculator character sets HP calculator character set refers to various calculator character sets used in calculators manufactured by Hewlett-Packard.
These include:
* FOCAL character set, a character set used by some calculators supporting the FOCAL (programming language), ...
Notes
References
Further reading
*
*
{{character encoding
Character sets