John Ferrell, W8CCW wrote
I think that is the engineer in you speaking!

I find the Smith Chart interesting as a tool. I am more interested
in
how it works while you are interested in what it is good for!
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John, you've weighed me up fairly well.
On the other hand I see much beauty in Mathematics. And program source
coding is the labour of love and a Work of Art. But Maths is a much
neglected subject in our Western schools and universities these days.
Even teachers don't know what five sevens are - and that's only
arithmetic.

I once asked a prospective Member of Parliament just before a General
Election what seven nines are. He didn't know. He lost his £500
deposit. Didn't get enough votes. Otherwise he might have ended up as
Chancellor of the Exchequer.
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My desk drawers still contain a couple of slide rules, a polar
planimeter, a drafting set and a Kurta Calculator. In spite of being
surrounded by an assortment of computers, I keep a good battery in
my
HP Calculator and I remain fond of nomograms.
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My Casio scientific calculator must be about 10 years old. I've never
changed the battery.
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The Smith Chart is a tool. I cannot possibly have too many tools...
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I bet you are an amateur carpenter as well.
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Of course I have archived the programs at g4fgq as well...
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Don't throw away your old computer. Being DOS programs there are
ominous signs they won't work too well on new versions of Windows.
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We could quit teaching Calculus as well, Computers make quick work
of
graphic solutions!
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I deliberately avoided graphics. Graphics depend on screen driving
software thus losing portability between machines.

My favourite Victorian is Oliver Heaviside. He invented the beautiful
Operational Calculus which magically transforms ordinary calculus into
simple algebra and converts functions of frequency on transmission
lines into functions of time. Now everything is going digital at
Megabits per second he was about 130 years in advance of his time.

All the best to you and yours.
----
Reg, G4FGQ.