hammer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
[regarding the vi key assignments]
> For someone unsuspecting, it would appear simple
> madness why "k" would mean "cursor up". S/He
> wouldn't get any help for comprehension either
> from the manual (and I read TFM).
>
>From my "special arcana" of ancient information:
the letters chosen for left/down/up/right (h/j/k/l)
correspond to the early meanings of control keys
on early terminals:
(remember the ADM-3A and Televideo terminals?)
Ctrl+H = backspace = move left
Ctrl+J = linefeed = move down
Ctrl+K = vert tab = move vertically (ok, so "up")
Ctrl+L = formfeed = why not, it's close to the others.
(I'll leave out the "most people are right-handed"
part of the discussion.)
As with many applications, the control or command
keys chosen make sense either by their positions,
mnemonically (what they sound like), or by some
other logical association (h = ctrl+h, j = ctrl+j);
but almost always, after a few keys have been assigned
they run out of logically sequitur assignments and
begin to use increasingly contrived "meanings" for
keys, until they reach the "aw, hell, there's only
seven keys left, just pick one and we'll make
something up" point of completely arbitrary assignment.
Like the (d)elete line -vs- (x) delete character keys:
we can use the logic that the 'x' closely resemble
crossing something out, so ...
Maybe I should stop here ...
Regards,
Garry
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