Keyboards
in [Java Programming]
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From: Tom Anderson on 26 Apr 2010 12:46 On Mon, 26 Apr 2010, Lew wrote: > Tom Anderson wrote: >> I don't use the numpad much, but i [sic] do use the keys in between the numpad >> and the main block, and without a numpad, you don't get a proper version >> of those. But yes, good point about the numpad not being that useful. > > Actually, it's a really, really terrible point since the numpad is very > useful. I guess utility is in the hand of the beholder. I don't use the numpad a lot. tom -- YOUR MIND IS A NIGHTMARE THAT HAS BEEN EATING YOU: NOW EAT YOUR MIND. -- Kathy Acker, Empire of the Senseless
From: Tom Anderson on 26 Apr 2010 12:49 On Mon, 26 Apr 2010, Patricia Shanahan wrote: > Lew wrote: >> Tom Anderson wrote: >>> I don't use the numpad much, but i [sic] do use the keys in between the >>> numpad >>> and the main block, and without a numpad, you don't get a proper version >>> of those. But yes, good point about the numpad not being that useful. >> >> Actually, it's a really, really terrible point since the numpad is >> very useful. > > This discussion reminds me of a conversation I had a few years ago with > my mother and my aunt. They were in total agreement that it was silly to > have both a numeric pad and a number row on the main keyboard - until I > asked them which should go. > > My mother used her computer mainly for correspondence and writing essays > for classes she was taking. She had learned to touch type on a > mechanical typewriter. > > My aunt had worked as a statistician starting soon after World War II, > as a part time book-keeper for the first few years of her retirement, > and still kept the books on a volunteer basis for her swimming and > bridge clubs. Dorothy had used electronic calculators from soon after > they became available until she switched to spreadsheets. > > There are no prizes for guessing who absolutely insisted on keeping > which set of number keys. Maybe a keyboard should just come as a collection of 105 lego bricks with keys on top, and a baseboard. Some kind of personal-area network could collect the keypresses. Keys could use the energy of keystrokes to power themselves. Everyone would be able to adjust their keyboard on a whim, and everyone would have exactly the layout they wanted. The only downside of this is that in my office, i can guarantee that i'd come in one day and find that my home row had been replaced by a rank of tiny spearmen. tom -- YOUR MIND IS A NIGHTMARE THAT HAS BEEN EATING YOU: NOW EAT YOUR MIND. -- Kathy Acker, Empire of the Senseless
From: Tom Anderson on 26 Apr 2010 12:50 On Mon, 26 Apr 2010, Thomas Pornin wrote: > According to Lew <lew(a)lewscanon.com>: >> Actually, it's a really, really terrible point since the numpad is >> very useful. > > Or not. > > On my workstation (some years ago), it took me two years before > noticing that my numpad was correctly configured (at that time, using > Linux on an Alpha, such things were not always working out of the box). > This means that I had programmed and typed text on that system for > two years, without even once touching the numpad. I daresay that the > numpad is very useless for me. > > (This is not so true on my home PC, because the numpad is useful to move > units when playing Civilization.) Yes, this is the one use i have for the numpad - but i only play Civ on my laptop, which doesn't have one! tom -- YOUR MIND IS A NIGHTMARE THAT HAS BEEN EATING YOU: NOW EAT YOUR MIND. -- Kathy Acker, Empire of the Senseless
From: Lew on 26 Apr 2010 13:18 Tom Anderson wrote: > >> I don't use the numpad much, but i [sic] do use the keys in between the numpad > >> and the main block, and without a numpad, you don't get a proper version > >> of those. But yes, good point about the numpad not being that useful. > Lew wrote: >> Actually, it's a really, really terrible point since the numpad is >> very useful. > Patricia Shanahan wrote: > This discussion reminds me of a conversation I had a few years ago with > my mother and my aunt. They were in total agreement that it was silly to > have both a numeric pad and a number row on the main keyboard - until I > asked them which should go. > > My mother used her computer mainly for correspondence and writing essays > for classes she was taking. She had learned to touch type on a > mechanical typewriter. > > My aunt had worked as a statistician starting soon after World War II, > as a part time book-keeper for the first few years of her retirement, > and still kept the books on a volunteer basis for her swimming and > bridge clubs. Dorothy had used electronic calculators from soon after > they became available until she switched to spreadsheets. > > There are no prizes for guessing who absolutely insisted on keeping > which set of number keys. > And that illustrates what my real point was. It is silly to make pronouncements about "the numpad not being that useful" since that depends on the user, so I intentionally was just as silly claiming that it's "very, very useful". Obviously I was speaking from my own point of view only, but in the absolute in order to counteract the absolute claims being made about a subjective matter. Anyone should have been able to recognize that. -- Lew
From: Martin Gregorie on 26 Apr 2010 14:45
On Mon, 26 Apr 2010 13:08:14 +0000, Stefan Ram wrote: > > I do not want to /think/ when typing. Using several computers with > different keyboard layouts would make me think about the layout each > time I use a keyboard. So I want the same layout on every computer I > use. I even would prefer the same command key codes in different > editors as far as possible. > I only have two suggestions here - vi and microEmacs. Both are small, fast, portable, open source editors. I use vi as a fall- back because all *nixen have it (so does Windows) and microEmacs from choice. Its customisable and the customisations are also portable. So far it has ported easily to any OS I've needed it on and always worked exactly the same. However, since its a keyboard driven console editor rather than having a graphical/mouse interface it may not suit everybody. -- martin@ | Martin Gregorie gregorie. | Essex, UK org | |