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Is Caps Lock Dead?

An anonymous reader asks "Recently I have noticed that I haven't used caps lock other for any purpose other than hitting it by accident. Once upon a time, COBOL was written in all caps, and other languages like BASIC and Fortran were not case sensitive. Capitals were the way to go for writing code. Does the caps lock key serve any purpose any more, and if not, should it be removed, moved, or replaced?"

12 of 1,206 comments (clear)

  1. We should keep capslock by inode_buddha · · Score: 5, Funny

    else it would be *very* discriminating against all those AOL'ers.

    --
    C|N>K
  2. Now now young man by kunudo · · Score: 5, Funny

    Keep it as a tribute to the coders of old. It's like having a museum in your keyboard. You can even play with the exibit.

  3. Re:No! I use CapsLock as my "ESC" key by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I find a drop of superglue under the key ensures its continued usefulness.

  4. Re:EASY IQ DETECTION by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    If caps lock were gone, how would morons get their misdirected points across?

    IT'S SPELLED MORANS, YOU DUMMY.

  5. Re:OF COURSE IT SERVES A PURPOSE by abhisarda · · Score: 5, Funny

    yeah, how else will those nigerian spammers get their message across that they have FORTY MILLION DOLLARS(40,000,000 $) AND ARE WILLING TO GIVE YOU A SHARE OF IT IF YOU ARE A NOOB.

  6. Re:for actually using a computer (writing document by atarione · · Score: 5, Funny

    MY BAD, I ADMIT I WAS OUT FOR A BIT LAST NIGHT, and I'm not in top form i indeed got mixed up with the SHIFT KEY.

    I appologize to Slashdot and to the "Shift Key" for any Confusion on my part.... again my bad.

    in a pinch caps lock might work as a "ANY" key???

    --
    actually I am happy to see you, however that is in fact a banana in my pocket.
  7. Re:It should be replaced... by whiteranger99x · · Score: 5, Funny

    All I know is that everytime I play Diablo 2 or another game, the Windows Key become the absolute BANE OF MY EXISTENCE! X(

    --
    Join the TWIT army now!
  8. Dear Slashdot by Pan+T.+Hose · · Score: 5, Funny

    Dear Slashdot,

    Very recently, to my unimaginable surprise, I have noticed that I haven't used the tilde key for any purpose other than hitting it by accident. I know that once upon a time people were using the tilde key. They were using it like there was no tomorrow. I don't use it now, though, which makes me very sad. Does the tilde key serve any purpose any more? Does it still serve any purpose whatsoever? If not, will it ever serve a purpose? Will it ever make any sense? If not, should it be removed, moved, or replaced? If so, will we be able to see it in museum? What if later I find some use for this key, but it will have been gone long ago? What then? What will be the future of this little key? What, I ask?

    Thank you very much, Slashdot, for your answer!

    Sincerely,
    Concerned reader.

    P.S. I love reading Slashdot and especially the Ask Slashdot section, when people always ask so interesting questions! THANK YOU VERY MUCH! (Oh, God damn it! I used caps lock!)

    --
    Sincerely,
    Pan Tarhei Hosé, PhD.
    "Homo sum et cogito ergo odi profanum vulgus et libido."
  9. Re:OF COURSE IT SERVES A PURPOSE by isthisthingon · · Score: 5, Funny
    Kidding (somewhat) aside, if you've ever read anthing in legalese there is ALWAYS at least one obligatory section that warrants being written in all caps.

    I call this the:
    "If you don't read anything else in this contract read this one,
    or our hungry attack lawyers will eat you and your young
    for lunch."
    clause.

    --
    And then one day you find, ten years have gone behind you....
  10. I use it all the time by ShieldW0lf · · Score: 5, Funny

    There are all sorts of programming situations where having a caps lock key helps keep things readable. For example...

    SELECT *
    FROM tblWhatever a
    INNER JOIN tblYaddaYadda b
    ON a.ID = b.ID
    WHERE b.foo = 1

    Not to mention data entry work... lots of places that do data entry use all caps.

    Oh, and did I mention that THIS IS A STUPID ARTICLE? SURELY THERE MUST BE SOMETHING EXCITING ENOUGH GOING ON IN THE WORLD THAT WE DON'T NEED TO PUT THIS CRAP ON THE FRONT PAGE OF THE SITE?

    --
    -1 Uncomfortable Truth
  11. How to defeat 13-year-old AOLers by Schattenfreude · · Score: 5, Funny

    My little brother used to sneak on my computer all the time before he got a decent laptop, and I'd always be annoyed to find the caps lock key on from whatever flaming/shouting/n00bing he was doing there. So one day I remapped caps lock to switch to a Cyrillic keyboard--it helps a lot with my Russian homework, and I never did find it enabled again after my brother had been using my computer.

  12. Capslock? What's that? by jeff_brh · · Score: 5, Funny