On Fri, Apr 8, 2016, at 23:28, Steven D'Aprano wrote: > This is the power of the "slowing typists down is a myth" meme: same > Wikipedia contributor takes an article which *clearly and obviously* > repeats the conventional narrative that QWERTY was designed to > decrease the number of key presses per second, and uses that to defend > the counter-myth that QWERTY wasn't designed to decrease the number of > key presses per second!
Er, the footnote is clearly and obviously being used to cite the claim that that is popularly believed, not the claim that it's incorrect. > These are the historical facts: > - Sholes spend significant time developing a layout which reduced the > number of jams by intentionally moving frequently typed characters > far apart, which has the effect of slowing down the rate at which > the typist can hit keys; "Moving characters far apart has the effect of slowing down the rate at which the typist can hit keys" is neither a fact nor historical. Keys that are further apart *can be hit faster without jamming* due to the specifics of the type-basket mechanism, and there's no reason to think that they can't be hit with at least equal speed by the typist. Take a typewriter. Press Q and A (right next to each other) at the same time, and observe the distance from the type basket where the jam occurs. Now press Q and P (on the opposite side of the basket from each other) and observe where the jam occurs. -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
