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From: brnstnd@kramden.acf.nyu.edu (Dan Bernstein)
Newsgroups: comp.terminals
Subject: Re: ESC key on VT200 and VT300 terminals.
Message-ID: <7853:Apr2313:57:4891@kramden.acf.nyu.edu>
Date: 23 Apr 91 13:57:48 GMT
References: <9104172248.AA10611@cwns9.INS.CWRU.Edu> <1095@keele.keele.ac.uk> <1991Apr22.155857.500@csc.canterbury.ac.nz>
Organization: IR
Lines: 15

In article <1991Apr22.155857.500@csc.canterbury.ac.nz> phys169@csc.canterbury.ac.nz writes:
> The stupidity of the VT200 keyboard design is equalled only by the use of
> Ctrl-S in EMACS for searching.

Failing to figure out exactly what keys users will want isn't stupid;
it's just a mistake. What's stupid is a convention that codes keystrokes
as ambiguous byte streams. When the receiving end has to pay attention
to timing to figure out whether you typed esc-[-A or esc [ A, the
keyboard model is simply flawed, and this is reflected by unreliable
software and user complaints.

In a better world, no valid keystroke would produce a prefix of what
another valid keystroke produces.

---Dan