Talk:Electronic calculator

Don't redirect
Electronic calculators are a very significant type of calculator, just as diesel locomotives are a very significant type of locomotive; therefore they should have a separate article.

InternetMeme (talk) 22:26, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
 * the first paragraph of Calculator says
 * "A calculator is a small (often pocket-sized), usually inexpensive electronic device used to perform the basic operations of arithmetic. Modern calculators are more portable than most computers, though most PDAs are comparable in size to handheld calculators." (my emphasis).
 * I.e. that article is about electronic calculators. The article is titled 'calculator' as that's what electronic calculators are called today. That they are the same is clear from the changes I reverted: a copy of the first paragraph of calculator with two of its images. If the first paragraphs of the articles are largely identical I don't see how they can be on different topics.-- JohnBlackburne wordsdeeds 22:35, 15 January 2011 (UTC)

I see what you mean. Although the first paragraph does indeed refer to electronic calculators, if you scroll down you will see a huge amount of information relating to arcane mechanical paraphernalia. Many other articles reference electronic calculators directly, and it is confusing to be directed to an article covering such a broad range of devices.

It will be a long process to weed out information that relates only to electronic calculators, and separating out the information about mechanical devices.

Again, consider the situation with the Diesel locomotive versus the Locomotive articles: It is identical to the extent that any reason to delete the Electronic calculator article applies equally to the Diesel locomotive article.

The only difference is that I haven't had time to separate out all the information yet; in the Diesel locomotive article, that task has already been done.

InternetMeme (talk) 22:46, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
 * How transport articles are organised is irrelevant. Some of the topics of Calculator have their own article, such as Programmable calculator, and of course there are articles on individual calculators. But the subject of Calculator is electronic calculators. It has an long history section: whether that's too long is difficult to say, as it's all good material.
 * As for linking to the article it's difficult to guess what someone following such a link will be interested in: historic or modern calculators, individual models, or something else. Articles can always link to particular sections such as Calculator, or to another article if that is appropriate. But a three-line stub that's a trivial copy of Calculator is probably of little use to them.-- JohnBlackburne wordsdeeds 22:52, 15 January 2011 (UTC)

1) How transport articles is organised is not at all irrelevant, as that organisation provides a good logical categorical template to work from.

2) The subject of Calculator is most definitely NOT electronic calculators. Scroll down the page a bit and see; the subject of the Calculator article is basically every type of calculator that has ever been invented.

3) It is not at all difficult to say what someone following a link will be interested in: As you say yourself, the word "calculator" in its current usage refers specificaly to Electronic calculators.

4) Though interesting from a logical categorical standpoint, it is irrelevant that we can link to a particular section of a larger article: The point remains that electronic calculators are more than ubiquitous enough to warrant their own article separate from detailed descriptions of mechanical devices, slide rules, and the Antikythera mechanism. A detailed discourse on these devices belongs in a History of Calculators article.

5) I agree entirely that a three-line stub that's a trivial copy of Calculator is probably of little use to someone following a link, but that is the nature of stubs. The point of a stub is to act as a placeholder for an article that is signifcant enough to exist on its own merit.

The alternative to having this present article would be to weed out the information in the Calculator article that relates to mechaincal devices etc, and move it into a separate article titled Mechanical calculators.

Devices such as mechanical calculators should only be described very concisely in a much smaller "History" section of an article about electronic calculators.

InternetMeme (talk) 23:33, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
 * The subject of Calculator is electronic calculators, as can be seen from its opening paragraph. If you feel that article is too unbalanced, and gives too much weight to the history of the calculator, then you should raise it there. Myself I can see that the history section is quite long but it's all good material and that is the main criterion for keeping it. But again, if you feel otherwise, and have some ideas how to address it, then the best place to raise it is at Talk:Calculator.-- JohnBlackburne wordsdeeds 14:54, 16 January 2011 (UTC)


 * Sorry about the duplicated content; I got confused cutting and pasting. Okay, I'll settle on the idea that "Calculators" is specifically about electronic calculators. I suppose the course of action would be to create an article titled "Mechanical calculators" which would go into detail about historical devices. At the moment, the "Calculators" article—although primarily about electronic calculators—seems to cover in its entirity all information relating to mechanical calculators (c.f. on the other hand, the Diesel locomotive article).

InternetMeme (talk) 16:29, 16 January 2011 (UTC)