When working with micro-controller projects, it is often necessary to perform calculations in binary and hexadecimal forms. While almost all calculator tools (such as calc under Windows and gcalctool in Linux) can handle such tasks, they are designed for general purpose calculations and not geared specifically towards working with digital circuits.
Particularly, it often requires multiple steps when manipulating individual bits (convert number to binary, manipulate bits and then convert the number back to hex or decimal). So, I decided to write a simple program myself to make it easier to use when working with micro-controllers and other digital circuits.
Here is the screen-shot of the application I designed (running under Linux using Mono)
As you can see, there are three groups of number fields. Each group can be used independently of the others. When any field within a group is changed, the results are reflected in all the other fields simultaneously. This makes it handy for number conversions. Furthermore there are 32 check boxes — representing the 32 bit number — divided into 4 bytes and each byte is divided further into two nibbles. These check boxes make bit manipulation very intuitive. The 32-bit layout should satisfy most of the work done in the MCU world.
Download
Here are the source files (C#, Requires Visual Studio .Net 2005 or higher):
BCalc — Source
And here is the binary (Requires .Net framework 2.0 or higher):
BCalc — Binary Only
Update
The latest version can be downloaded here
Perfect, I use it whenever I develop on ARM. But, you can add a ameliration. A reset and a set button for the two first fields.
This avoids having to manually type the keyboard to fill any or empty. These buttons would be easier for the calculation of AND and OR.
Let me know if there is an update.
I do not program in C #.
Good job
Jonathan
Hi Jonathan,
Glad you found it useful. I will sure let you know when I make update next time.
An updated version is available now. You can download it from here: http://www.kerrywong.com/bcalc