A new type of calculator

Recently, I’ve been working on a new small hobby project: calc.bot. It’s a simple split-pane calculator that lets users enter expressions in human terms on the left-hand side and see live results on the right. For example, you can assign variables (Rent is $2,000 , Months = 12) and perform calculations using them (AnnualRent = Rent * Months). If you feel like updating one variable, the rest of the expressions update in real time.

I was inspired by OpalCalc, a neat little C# app I discovered after searching for alternatives to the default Windows calculator. I wanted something that felt easy to use and kept a working history of my expressions- kind of like an Excel spreadsheet, but a lot simpler.

After a bit of motivation, I decided to write my own calculator using SvelteKit and Math.js. I’m trying to keep things as simple as possible- just a single page application which uses the 📁File System Access API for opening and saving .calc files locally.

It’s a nice change of pace from my other over-engineered projects- no backend, no API, no user registration or authentication. Although it only took a weekend to bootstrap, I’ve ended up using this tool on a near daily basis. If this post imparts anything, I hope it encourages you to make your own tools!