JargonFile/entries/double bucky.txt
2014-04-26 16:54:15 +01:00

29 lines
1.7 KiB
Plaintext

double bucky
adj. Using both the CTRL and META keys. The command to burn all LEDs is
double bucky F. This term originated on the Stanford extended-ASCII
keyboard, and was later taken up by users of the space-cadet keyboard at
MIT. A typical MIT comment was that the Stanford bucky bits (control and
meta shifting keys) were nice, but there weren't enough of them; you could
type only 512 different characters on a Stanford keyboard. An obvious way to
address this was simply to add more shifting keys, and this was eventually
done; but a keyboard with that many shifting keys is hard on touch-typists,
who don't like to move their hands away from the home position on the
keyboard. It was half-seriously suggested that the extra shifting keys be
implemented as pedals; typing on such a keyboard would be very much like
playing a full pipe organ. This idea is mentioned in a parody of a very fine
song by Jeffrey Moss called Rubber Duckie , which was published in The
Sesame Street Songbook (Simon and Schuster 1971, ISBN 0-671-21036-X). These
lyrics were written on May 27, 1978, in celebration of the Stanford
keyboard: DoubleBucky Doublebucky,you'retheone! Youmakemykeyboardlotsoffun.
Doublebucky,anadditionalbitortwo: (Vo-vo-de-o!) Controlandmeta,sidebyside,
AugmentedASCII,ninebitswide! Doublebucky!Halfathousandglyphs,plusafew! Oh,
IsurewishthatI Hadacoupleof Bitsmore! Perhapsa Setofpedalsto Makethenumberof
Bitsfour: Doubledoublebucky! Doublebucky,leftandright
OR'dtogether,outtasight! Doublebucky,I'dlikeawholewordof
Doublebucky,I'mhappyIheardof Doublebucky,I'dlikeawholewordofyou!
TheGreatQuux(withapologiestoJeffreyMoss) [This, by the way, is an excellent
example of computer filk ESR] See also meta bit , cokebottle , and quadruple
bucky.