Awesome
Recomputer
A free web app, a smart calculator with instantly updating results.
https://xixixao.github.io/recomputer
For bug reports file an issue.
Alternatives
Other Use Cases
- One-off simple calculations: Alfred/WoX
- Tabular data, simple charts: Google Sheets, Excel
- Charts, visualizations: Observable, Jupyter
- More complicated algorithms: R, JavaScript, Python...
Same Use Case
Why yet another smart calculator?
Update Aug 2022: I've discovered several new (and some old) projects with great similarity to Recomputer. Here's an attempt at a comparitive overview. More alternatives are listed below.
| Recomputer | Soulver | Numpad | Cruncher | Insect | Frink | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Platform | macOS | web | web | web | web, npm | Java |
| Interface | immediate | immediate | immediate | immediate | REPL | programming lang / REPL |
| Price | free | paid | free | free | free | free |
| Development | open source | closed source | closed source | open source | open source | closed source |
| Syntax | strict | mixed text | mixed text | mixed text | strict | strict |
| Variables | yes | yes | yes | no | yes | yes |
| Functions | yes | ? | no | no | yes | yes |
| Fractions | yes | no | no | no | no | yes |
| Units | yes | yes | yes | no | yes | yes |
There's lots of interesting differences and features between all of these. Frink is especially interesting being developed for 20 years now and having a vast list of built-in constants for all sorts of physical values.
Written in May 2021:
- Soulver: Native, macOS only. Free only 30 days. Not open-source. By far the best of the alternatives. Differs in some design decisions. It leans more towards free text-like input, while Recomputer is more strict (and less error prone).
- Numi: Doesn't support all rates, in general the grammar doesn't handle a lot of expressions. Multi-word names are not sometimes recognized.
- Math Notepad: A Jupyter-like interface, enter needs to be hit to see results. No currency support. Very slow / laggy.
- calcula.tech: Latex reprinting of input, requires
= ?to see results. - NoteCalc: Custom text editor that doesn't support basic native keyboard commands (like go to word boundary). No currency support.
- Parsify: Free version limited to 5 lines. Some bugs in grammar. Doesn't support all rates or arbitrary physics expressions.
- Numbr: Doesn't support all rates. Not open-source. Broken exponentiation.
- Caligator: Download didn't work on Mac.
Acknowledgements
marijnh for CodeMirror.next
fawazahmed0 for currency API