A pocket computer was a 1980s-era user programmable calculator-sized computer that had fewer screen lines, [1] and often fewer characters per line, than the Pocket-sized computers introduced beginning in 1989.[2] Manufacturers included Casio, Hewlett-Packard, Sharp, Tandy/Radio Shack (selling Casio and Sharp models under their own TRS line) and many more. The last Sharp pocket computer, the PC-G850V (2001) is programmable in C, BASIC, and Assembler. An important feature of pocket computers was that all programming languages were available for the device itself, not downloaded from a cross-compiler on a larger computer.

Sharp PC-E500S pocket computer

The programming language was usually BASIC. By the 1990s, the pocket computer market had largely transitioned to electronic organizers that catered to business professionals and lacked programming capabilities. Graphing calculators largely replaced pocket computers for scientific and technical users around the same time.

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  1. ^ Some had only one line
  2. ^ Andrew Pollack (March 26, 1981). "The Portable Computer". NYTimes.com.

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