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The History of the "Undo" Function?

Posted by Cliff on from the better-than-a-eras^H^H^H^Hbackspace-key dept.

TheLocustNMI asks: "So, earlier today as I was typing out some magnum opus of a stored procedure, I highlighted to copy it, and hit SPACE instead of Ctrl-C. Without thinking, I hit Ctrl-Z to 'undo' my folly. Pausing a moment to reflect, I realized that I own countless hours of thanks to whomever came up with the "undo" button. In short -- my question is this -- where did it come from? What are the earliest implementations of the 'undo'? (a quick googling returns this page, a cornucopia of undo and history related treatises)"

8 of 61 comments (clear)

  1. Before Computers by LowellPorter · · Score: 3, Funny

    The "undo" button before computers was white-out. You could never have enough of that stuff around. Especially if you were from a family like mine with several kids doing term papers.

    1. Re:Before Computers by stefanlasiewski · · Score: 4, Funny

      And the second "undo" button was the penknife, which you could use to scrape off the white-out that you applied by accident.

      --
      "Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
  2. Good question by Picass0 · · Score: 3, Funny


    Seeing how things have been lately, it's worth finding an answer for this question before someone attempts to patent the idea.

    1. Re:Good question by lburdet · · Score: 2, Funny

      hmmm... maybe *HE* is trying to patent "undo".

  3. is it just me ... by hari · · Score: 4, Funny

    .. or do you find yourself saying "Control-Z" in your mind whenever you find yourself making mistakes while not sitting in front of a computer..spilling a glass of milk...etc

  4. Opps! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    I bet amazon wishes they could undo this... mistake

  5. No Undo for 10+ Years by BornInASmallTown · · Score: 3, Funny
    I use a graphical programming language from National Instruments called LabVIEW. It did not have the undo feature for over 10 years since its introduction, and I will never forget the sinking feeling of hitting the Delete key on accident only to see a whole page of graphical code lost forever!


    NI added undo to LabVIEW in the 5.0 release (ca. 1997) of the product. It was really funny how the marketing from NI revolved around that feature. "Now with UNDO!" You would think that promoting the introduction of a feature that is so ubiquitous in most other desktop software would be less than effective--that people would groan because they had expected it for so long. However, at one of their trade shows, the presenter mentioned the new UNDO and got a standing ovation.

  6. What could be geekier? by TerryAtWork · · Score: 2, Funny

    You ever tried to pick up chicks by elaborating on the history of the undo command in a dark bar?

    Let me know how it works out.

    --
    It's Christmas everyday with BitTorrent.