Newsgroups: comp.editors
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca!mroussel
From: mroussel@alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca (Marc Roussel)
Subject: Re: Let's Talk Keyboards!
Message-ID: <1991Apr4.053509.17285@alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca>
Organization: Department of Chemistry, University of Toronto
References: <1991Apr2.104658.1@hulaw1.harvard.edu>
Date: Thu, 4 Apr 1991 05:35:09 GMT

     I'm going to sound silly in public again... Oh well.
     I like the Commodore 64 keyboard.  It's not perfect, but it's a
nice keyboard for a programmer.  Many of the keys that I use most often
are in awful places on most keyboards.  You have to shift to get +, *,
and ^ for instance.  (I don't need to tell you how often + and * are
used; ^ is useful to me both for Maple and in the C-shell.)  Not on the C64!
The @ key is also a "natural" on this keyboard (nice for email, among other
things).  I also count as a plus that the return key isn't too big, but I
realize that others will disagree with me violently on this.
     It does have some flaws however.  There are no {, }, `, _ and \ keys.
(Other keys are mapped into these characters in software.  The placement
is therefore different for just about every program you use.)  The
characters " and ' are in their typewriter positions.  (I can live with
that since I learned to touch typing on a typewriter.  Others aren't so
forgiving.)  I find that the proper placement of + and * more than make
up for other deficiencies however.
     All in all, I think that with some minor adjustments, the C64
keyboard could be a very productive one for programmers.  The C64 itself
may be a toy, but its keyboard certainly isn't.

                                Sincerely,

				Marc R. Roussel
                                mroussel@alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca