Several websites have begun comparing the TI-Nspire CX, Casio Classpad II fx-400CP and HP-Prime performances by using the softwares now available online.

It is a mistake because beyond the performance of the host computer, those software are often not emulators but simulators. They're running a system which has been rebuilt for the computer.



The calculation performances are often in direct link with the processor speed, and therefore we can expect the HP-Prime calculating faster than all its competitors.

Where we sometimes do have some surprises, is with programs dealing with lots of outputs/displays, mostly games. In fact, there is no dedicated graphic processor on our calculators. Thus output instructions "plunders" processor time, which consequently has less time to process calculations of the program itself. The more pixels and colors the screen can display, the more calculations required are required and it is a problem particularly for the TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition.



Therefore lets's check this evening if the HP-Prime's processor has the same problem. We will use our HP-Prime DVT prototype, and the new color tunnel game made by DJ_O for the HP-Prime software:

Now lets get a look of the game directly on the calculator itself:

It rocks... it's so fast that it becomes unplayable!

On the HP-Prime we don't have access to assembly programs, and we wouldn't dare imagining what it would have done... The power of assembly is usually used by other calculator models for games. It seems it might be possible on the HP-Prime to develop huge games without a single line of assembly! You might even need to slow down your games with some loops!
But of course, the speed is not the only advantage of the assembly language, it also allows you to perform many usually achievable things...



Download:
http://www.omnimaga.org/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=16752.0;attach=15851

Program source:
http://ourl.ca/19349/357143

Cross-posted from:
http://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=146654&lang=en

Dang! This speed is insane!

It's like 4-5 times the speed of the original tunnel (which this game is based on):

[ Invalid YouTube link ]

This makes me wonder about sprites. I wonder what kind of data storage this calc supports besides lists, strings and vars? If there is a different smaller format, then maybe we could store sprite data then recall it later to display tilemaps pixel by pixel?

My concern are math operations, though. On the 39gII, maths, especially floating points calculations, were particularly slow compared to graphical display. In the Prime emu, if I use decimals I see a noticeable slowdown when I do complex animations and stuff.

Indeed, and it's looking great so far Tim.

You might even need to slow down your games with some loops!

On the computer software, it seems as if there is a WAIT() command to wait a certain number of seconds, and it works with fractions of seconds. there is also TICKS for the overall system clock in milliseconds, which could be used to make timing or scoring more accurate/precise/cool.

thanks, I'll try that code later. As for decimals, I mean that in the emulator, I noticed that stuff like A+1.1 is noticeably slower than A+1. I'll have to give that another try when i get home on my comp.

It might be that the C++ compiler is able to optimize Ints and Integers more than Floats and Doubles on the computer, yet on the calculator they are just as fast.

I have a question. What do we know about lists on the Prime? I'd like to test some things.

Also, I love the speed. I'd much rather have one of these than a TI84PCSE.

Interesting. Anyway I personally hope we can also use smaller type of numbers and data, because if someone decides to make an RPG like Pokémon, that game will be absolutely massive >.<

Next time, hit the modify button above your post instead of 'double posting'. Also, if you happen to have an IRC client, there is a lot of good conversation about calculators and other stuff going on in #omnimaga on EFNet.