Re: How to type when using Emacs?

[Xah <xahlee@gmail.com>]

On Aug 9, 7:47 am, dkco...@panix.com (David Combs) wrote:
> In article <mailman.14500.1215719199.18990.help-gnu-em...@gnu.org>,
> Joel J. Adamson <adams...@email.unc.edu> wrote:
>
>
>
> >I would type it exactly as above.  I've seen people do "C-x C-f" with
> >one hand and it looks like it would kill their wrists after a while.  I
> >certainly do it faster than any of them.
>
> Huh?
>
> I hold down the control with my left pinky, and then hit x and f.
>
> Easy, man.
>
> (It does help to have a Sun Type-6 keyboard, with the control
> key exactly where it should be, just left of "A".)

it is a myth that the proper place for Control key on keyboard is the
one where Caps Lock is at.

I guess the reason Control key is at that location has to do with
earlier computing history. Roughly in the 1980s i think. At the time,
the control key is not much used as a shortcut, but more as a way to
enter non-printable ascii chars. The backdrop is that at the time,
most computer users are simply programers. Business apps such as
spread sheet, word process, didn't become popular until early 1990s.
Drawing apps such as MacDraw, MacPaint, Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator
didn't come about till earlyr 1990s. Than, later, watching movies,
playing games, checking news, stocks, online shopping, didn't come
about till late 1990s. etc. The type of computer users has changed.
Now, the vast majority, perhaps 95% of computer users, are not
programers. And the use of Control key is just a shortcut. As a
shortcut, and as a modifier, it needs to be designed where it is easy
to press. The best place, is by the thumb, as designed in the Kenesis
keyboard.

  Xah
∑ http://xahlee.org/

☄