I have been looking for a command-line programmers’ calculator for a while. I needed it to do the usual things like base number conversion, bit shifting and masking, and so on.

I searched for quite a while and couldn’t find anything. Almost all were GUI, which I didn’t want, or were some ridiculous price, which I couldn’t justify being a programmer myself.

Anyway, I think I’ve found a good one, calcc. It comes with GPL’ed source plus pre-built binaries for unix and MS Windows. Theoretically, the unix version should work on a Mac with OS X, but I haven’t tested it.

I have written up a fairly comprehensive blog post on my other blog. Check it out.

(Why command line? If I am in the middle of a typing frenzy, the last thing I want is to have to move my hands away from the home keys to use the mouse to hover over a graphical keypad and click. I much prefer to Tab over to another window and keep using the keyboard.)