2014-04-26 10:52:28 -04:00
|
|
|
QWERTY
|
|
|
|
|
|
2014-04-26 11:54:15 -04:00
|
|
|
/kwertee/ , adj. [from the keycaps at the upper left] Pertaining to a
|
|
|
|
|
standard English-language typewriter keyboard (sometimes called the Sholes
|
|
|
|
|
keyboard after its inventor), as opposed to Dvorak or non-US-ASCII layouts
|
|
|
|
|
or a space-cadet keyboard or APL keyboard. Historical note: The QWERTY
|
|
|
|
|
layout is a fine example of a fossil. It is sometimes said that it was
|
|
|
|
|
designed to slow down the typist, but this is wrong; it was designed to
|
|
|
|
|
allow faster typing under a constraint now long obsolete. In early
|
|
|
|
|
typewriters, fast typing using nearby type-bars jammed the mechanism. So
|
|
|
|
|
Sholes fiddled the layout to separate the letters of many common digraphs
|
|
|
|
|
(he did a far from perfect job, though; th , tr , ed , and er , for example,
|
|
|
|
|
each use two nearby keys). Also, putting the letters of typewriter on one
|
|
|
|
|
line allowed it to be typed with particular speed and accuracy for demo s.
|
|
|
|
|
The jamming problem was essentially solved soon afterward by a suitable use
|
|
|
|
|
of springs, but the keyboard layout lives on. The QWERTY keyboard has also
|
|
|
|
|
spawned some unhelpful economic myths about how technical standards get and
|
|
|
|
|
stay established; see http://www.reasonmag.com/9606/Fe.QWERTY.html.
|
|
|
|
|
|
