Well, “Lil Herc” is the name my Science teacher gave his TI-57 back in 1979. At that time, the name sort of fit. This handheld device was a marvel for the price. It was a fully programmable calculator which did a lot of trig and statistical calculations.
He handed his calculator and 100+ page instruction book to me during study hall one day and I had a field day with the thing. This was my first introduction to a calculator which such power. Small games and repetitive formulas could be programmed into it. It was such a marvelous device in 1979 that I saved up for more than six months to buy one of my own.
I had long since lost my original TI-57. However, I managed to find a replacement after all these years. The replacement is in wonderful shape and the battery still holds a charge.
I used to be able to program a rudimentary blackjack program into it for fun. I had the entire program memorized and could enter it quickly. The program would be erased when the power was turned off. I had forgotten the program steps by now, but I’m sure if I tried, I could recreate them. It fit just within the 50 program steps available.
