Slashdot Mirror
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?"
especially useful in VIM.
escape and caps lock key switch.s cclock.ht m
http://www.cs.ucr.edu/~beyert/articles/e
-Grump
bet you tim!
Is it true that more people vote for the winner of American Idol, than vote for the president? -Ali G.
Mostly for entering product keys.
StrategyTalk.com, PC Game Forums
Caps Lock is EVIL!
I remapped my capslock into an extra control key months ago. I never type more than a couple of words in capitals, and can easily hold down the shift key.
Capslock is just a problem when you accidentally hit it when reading something you are keying in.
how else are you supposed to shout?
"Is this just useless, or is it expensive as well?"
If caps lock were gone, how would morons get their misdirected points across?
Naming convention in C++: Constants in ALL CAPS
To blog is sublime
Writers and layout people use cap lock all the time. Most will use it from time to time in standard word processing. Computers aren't just for programers. Some of us use the software they write.
I use Caps Lock to check if Windows has completely frozen up. If the light on my keyboard doesn't come on, it's time to do a hard reset.
else it would be *very* discriminating against all those AOL'ers.
C|N>K
oF COURSE cAPSlOCK IS STILL USEFUL! iMAGINE ALL THE USERS OF THE WORLD NOT ABLE TO SEND LONG SHOUTING EMAILS IF cAPSlOCK WAS REMOVED! wHAT WOULD THEY DO THEN?! sTaRt UsInG aLt-ShIfT? tHE HORROR!
Call on God, but row AWAY from the rocks!
Well, as I am using a mixture of Debian/Sid/Experimental and lots of unstable (and non-official) packages, my system freezes once in a while. However, pressing Caps Lock helps me check if the keyboard driver is still live (so that I can use the MagicSysRq Keys) or I must reboot by hand. Could use NumLock for that matter, but CapsLock is usually nearest to one of my hands. The truly useless key is ScrollLock, BTW...
Of course caps lock is necessary. It's necessary for whenever you want to type in all-caps without holding shift the whole time. I can think of dozens of examples of this. Hell, where I work, the blank fields on our contracts must be typed in all caps. I wrote a screenplay once, and you need caps all over the place. When I'm coding, I write some macro names in all-caps.
No, the caps lock shouldn't be removed or replaced. It's handy to have a key that allows you to toggle lower to upper caps so you don't have to hold shift.
Pointless Ask Slashdot question!
"Sufferin' succotash."
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.
Just move the caps-lock key to the scroll lock button ;). Anyone ever uses -that- button anymore nowadays ?
FOR IMPERSONATING PHBS IN EMAILS.
And for getting denied a posting on slashdot.
Humorless sig goes here.
#include "sig.h"
They still haven't even bothered to get rid of the Scroll Lock button yet... What makes you think Caps Lock is going away any time soon?
--The universe will not be altered by forum threads, even those which are very wry. --Tycho Brahe (Penny Arcade)
I am still amazed that after 20 years of the desktop PC, we still have to press the key labelled [F1] to get any type of GUI help, rather than having a key labelled [HELP], although Microsoft did find a way of squeezing in a key with the Windows logo.
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
Or actually, just that it should not be another enter key... sorry
In the military it is still a popular key. It seems that whenever you're typing official documents (such as order requests, or log books), people like it in black and white. I find myself using it more often than not during the duty day!
Actually, in the US Navy and other branches of the service radio messages all always in all caps. These were a pretty routine part of life on ship (for Officers / admin personnel etc) We would compose the messages on a PC w/ word processor, print hard copy, then have approved by CoC. Radio men would send them out encrpyed, hard copies were always kept for paper trail. A ship my send dozens or even hundreds of these a week, so the're quite common. There are a few who may need cap locks who aren't programmers. M
Are you trying to say that you hit the caps key twice for every capital letter you need to type that's not in a big row of them? You really hit the caps key at the start of every sentence?
Yeesh, mate. Shift. SHIFT.
I'm not a touch typist, and I often just use my right hand to type, leaving the other hand free for holding books, documentation, operating equipment, etc. Caps lock is useful when I have to type in hexadecimal constants, or source code that is all in upper-case (FORTRAN, Assembler).
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
More useful than switching with escape is switching caps lock with Control.
You should have:
Option "XkbOptions" "ctrl:swapcaps"
In the InputDevice section for your keyboard (in XF86Config, of course).
Voila'! Ctrl assumes its rightful place on the keyboard. Ergonomic implications are massive.
Equivalent hack is available for NT too. It's done via registry, but I can't be bothered to google for it right now.
Save your wrists today - switch to Dvorak
I use caps lock all the time at work.
I make lots of calculation sheets in excel - text in caps is consistent, easy to read at small print when you shrink big sheets down to size.
Also, in CAD caps is used pretty much exclusively. Once again, consistently and readability at small sizes.
I think I need a new sig here.
uControl is a nice little Mac OS X hack that disables/remaps Caps Lock and other modifier keys on PowerBooks.
I also used it to remap the "Enter" key to the right of the spacebar on my 15" TiBook to "Command" -- I have no clue why Apple thought that was a good idea, but uControl saved the day.
It's very well designed -- if it thinks there's going to be a conflict when booting into an upgraded OS it will disable itself (vs. barfing and causing a system panic...)
Use the Happy Hacking keyboard. It has no Caps Lock. Its Control key is in the right place.
Having a predelection towards holding onto and repairing old hardware, I have a couple of old typewriters. (Including ones where to type the number 1, you use the lowercase L key, because there is no '1' key.)
In most cases the 'Caps Lock' key takes two fingers to engage, and one to disengage. Mostly the two fingers are required because the mechinism is so disused that the key doesn't want to respond, but in any case it is a heavy key to use. To disengage the Caps Lock feature you hit the Shift key.
I would suggest that the Caps Lock key on it's own be treated as a Meta key, or Escape key, however if you do a 'Shift'-'Caps Lock' combination it engages the caps-lock, and if you hit and release 'Shift' again without another key (or perhaps with only a letter key) it drops the Caps Lock status.
Granted I suspect that most typists who learned on mechanical and early electric typewriters have adjusted to the computer keyboard, so you probably are not going to 'impress' anyone with the feature, but it would make sense as a result.
Just a thought....
-Rusty
You never know...
I tend to do a similar thing, with the difference that its only the reserved sql words that i capitalise. To use your example; my variation would be ...
...
SELECT * FROM dork
WHERE dork = hotchicks!
This seems to be the general convention in my favorite mySQL book.
nick
Electronic Music Made Using Linux http://soundcloud.com/polyp
"Notice the capital "N" at the start of this sentence."
Yeah I see it. You're surely not suggesting that you used the caps lock key for that little "N" are you? If you are then not on is that a truly awful example of why caps lock is useful, it also shows that you have no idea of how to efficiently use your keyboard.
Free iPods - now in the UK!
This is one sad excuse of a story. Aren't there any leftover SCO blurbs to fill in?
---
SCO is weenies
Gator is Spyware
Microsoft is thugs
For Windows: instant reboot of system key.
For Mac: a second mousebutton replacement key.
For Linux: play that anoying sound clip of linus pronoucing linux key.
- "There is nothing quite like an ineffective solution to an nonexistant problem"
Many of the old character codes, such as Baudot (5-bit) and the various 6-bit character codes, were upper-case only. The military used Baudot for many decades. Do they still use it for RTTY links?
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
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.
95.84% of all engineering drawings (for bridges, airplanes, refineries, etc.) use all caps. Even though we textually shout at the fabricators/contruction guys, every now and then someone installs a checkvalve backwards or forgets to grout some 10,000# machinery.
I figure the original forced use of caps on these drawings is (was) to force the draftsmen to raise the writing instrument for each letter, so as to avoid the sloppy penmanship that usually accompanies cursive.
I think that damn insert key should go before caps lock.
Every single day of work, I enter data into an Oracle database window. My company has standardized on ALL CAPS for its data entry, so everything in the database is in caps. It's very eighties; look for it at a corporation near you.
So yes, I still need the button, but I'd give my left pinky to be rid of it.
Someone said that COBOL was the only real language to use the lock, and that's almost true. But hey we can all forget FORTRAN, ADA, and even ASM or asembler was first written all in caps.
My univeristy still teaches a course in COBOL, its the first data processing course and it really was useful. Mainly because most major corperations that have mainframes still use COBOL for their data warehouses.
COBOL ain't dead... well... it may be. but it's still warm.
and where would we be without the all caps flame wars of the fark forums and irc??
while(1) { fork(); };
In fact, I'm developing an application right now that requires Caps Lock.
Press CAPS LOCK to proceed.
Press SCROLL LOCK to cancel.
Please don't take my CAPS away from me!
What if he types with only one finger?
My KVM switch uses Scroll Lock (hit twice within 1/2 second) to enable the other keys for switching machines. If we don't have some useless keys on the keyboard, devices like my KVM switch would have to hijack functions I actually use once in awhile, which would be annoying.
Brackets contain world's first nanosig, highly magnified:[.]
"Ok sir, your password is not working? Ok then, have you tried turning off your caps lock? Yes sir, the caps lock key. That's a key on the left side of the middle of your keyboard. Try pressing it once and then typing in your password again. Working now? Very good sir, have a good day."
Productivity in the US may increase by 10% if we got rid of the stupid thing. If you *need* to type in all caps, pick a menu-option in your word processor or other application.
Very popular slashdot journal for adul
I actually include the capslock key in my touch typing. It's kinda hard juggling left and right shift when typing strings of capital letters.
- IP
Of course caps lock is still necessary. I receive lots of emails from Nigerian business men in all capital letters. Without caps lock it would be terribly difficult for them to write all these excellent business proposals.
I'm a navy reservist, and although the Navy and the other branches of the armed forces are moving towards computerization of almost every aspect of information management, oft times you'll find that because of some arcane requirement for filling out a form or other type of data entry, you're required to use all caps. However, in many cases, the program that was written to replace forms with this requirement won't enforce the capitalization, much less actually automatically capitalize everything. You say it's dumb, I say it's dumb, and all the staff we have say it's dumb. But, in the mean time, they have to live with it, and having the caps lock key makes it all the more bearable.
Here's the official way of remapping keys in Windows XP and Windows 2003 Server:
1) Download the Resource Kit Tools.
2) Run Remapkey.exe to Remap the Windows Keyboard Layout anyway you want.
For some very strange reason, this sometimes does not work reliably in a DOS window when using a PS/2 to USB converter for the keyboard. Since the remapping is done at a fundamental level, the failure is difficult to understand.
If you are teaching young children how to type on computers, you would almost certainly still find a use for caps lock.
While some of them can handle Shift + letter, many of them rely on Caps Lock to get a capital letter through, especially when they are just getting started.
I'm pretty sure the #1 Tech Support answer for Everything is "Reboot", which is now called all sorts of high-tech things like "Power Cycle".
I hate being told to "Power Cycle". It must be someplace in the Comcast tech-support handbook. But it gives me a good chuckle.
Medicare rules require all digital claim information to be submitted in ALL CAPS for processing. Lowercase alpha characters get claim reimbursement requests rejected.
Ask the Japanese if they should get rid of hiragana since they have katakana, or get rid of kanji since they can simply spell phonetically. Uppercase characters are still important to data processing and the proper use of the English language.
Because some of us use it on a regular basis.
My Belkin KVM switch uses syslog to change systems. Linux uses it to pause fast moving console output. BSD uses it to view the console history.
Gee, by removing the Capslock key i'd hate to eliminate all those internet users WHO INSIST ON TYPING EVERYTHING IN ALL CAPS. Then again, i havent used that key for a while. Why not replace it with a dedicated ctrl-alt-del button :P
YOU SUCK POND WATER!
(ok, maybe that's yet-another good reason)
"CTRL-Break" was rather useful when programming in BASIC if you were like me as a kid and regularly made infinite loops by mistake. =)
Member of Orkut? Annoyed with spam?
Some operating systems actually are able to make use of scroll lock! For instance, in FreeBSD you can press scroll lock, and then can scroll up and down (and pgup pgdn) at the console--going back all the way to when it started to boot.
I miss that when I use linux..makes the console feel much less efficient
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!
i work in architecture, specifically drafting plans. every single portion of text is capitalized. if not for caps lock, then this would prove quite difficult to do.
The caps lock key *is* useful, but it is more trouble than it is worth. Do you know what the #1 tech support answer for everything is?
I see no reason why something that is useful to me in my everyday work should be removed just because some idiots call tech support before checking CAPS LOCK when typing passwords.
You realize, of course, that if CAPS LOCK goes, they'll replace it with ANOTHER WINDOWS KEY. My boss at work has a keyboard designed by a demon- there are FOUR WINDOWS KEYS on it. There are the two in the "standard" places, and two more under Insert and Page Down. It's a damn minefield of Windows keys, each one waiting to steal input focus from the current application. Every time I use his keyboard I hit one by mistake. (He hates it too, but hasn't bothered to get a new one since his typing skills have adapted to the hostile keyboard environment.)
Productivity in the US may increase by 10% if we got rid of the stupid thing. If you *need* to type in all caps, pick a menu-option in your word processor or other application.
I doubt your productivity estimate, and I use CAPS LOCK in many different applications. I see no reason why I should have to go around figuring out how to set up macros and key bindings in every application I use just so an AOL call center in Bangalore can lower its call volume.
I might add that I used CAPS LOCK six times so far just while typing this post, and if I didn't have one my finger would be aching by now.
Theres on here.
I disabled mine long ago and haven't looked back.
And do you give your constants names so long that you really need to use your caps lock key instead of just using shift?
Of course I do. Don't you?
Either your code is full of single-letter names, or you don't do much programming. Holding down Shift while typing hurts my fingers if I do it too much. If I didn't have CAPS LOCK I'd be on workers' comp by now.
Especially in financial businesses (Banks etc) .. Printing out checks and certain forms will always be done in CAPS so as to not confuse the other parties. I find it a bit silly because one person hasn't used it, it must mean that no one else does. Sure, home users might not find much use out of it, but in the business world it is used everyday. And the business world makes up the majority of PC sales in the world.
"old school" type documents like chits (such as a leave chit) and most official documents.
Basically all databases i've ever worked with use all caps as well.
All your base are belong to Google.
I use caps lock all the time in Photoshop and Illustrator. It toggles between brush size or standard, and precise for the cursor. Precise cursors are more usable than standard (cross hair, vs. bucket or eyedropper for example), and also for the path tool in Illustrator (instead of a pen). Yes, you can set the preference, but there are times when you want to show the tool, or brush size, and caps lock is an easy way to toggle between them.
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."
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
MOV AX, BX
ADD CX, DX
XOR DX, 0x64
mov ax, bx
add cx, dx
xor dx, 0x64
Maybe I just like shouting at the CPU :)
I also like doing my HTML tags in caps.
I've discovered a remarkable proof, but this margin is too small to contain it...
In the US Air Force, we use CAPS LOCK all the time. It sucks. It's a pain in the ass because they want so much stuff in capitals, like its better that way. I'm a fan of readability. And if everything is in caps anyways, then everything stands out, so why use it. Also, working for the government, you'll notice a lot of busted up keyboards with no caps light that works. So when putting in passwords can be a bitch sometimes.
Mark
It's roots date back to 1984 when COBOL source code was always written in caps, and to change it would require rewriting almost 2,000 object files.
So the need for a caps lock is still very much alive...
Alas, when Windows came out, the TSR no longer worked, and I've been cUSSING aBOUT IT eVER sINCE.
The capslock key is used by some non-English input methods to switch back and forth between English entry and the other language. I found out about this when I kept noticing that my fiancee left the caps lock key on for me when I would use her laptop. In Traditional Chinese entry mode the caps lock being on puts you back into English entry mode. So I very much doubt, since the Chinese make um what 99.99% of all keyboards, that they will be removing the capslock key. :-)
This honestly does not bother me that much. If the placement of keys on the keyboard gets you hot and bothered, seek help.
I hate sigs.
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.
I use the hell out of caps lock; it's my "prone" key in FPS shooters. Others use it for radio, etc. Aside from games though, I don't use it overmuch.
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?
I think that's definately a good reason to get rid of caps lock.
Seriously, I have more trouble reading sql statements that are all caps'd than those written proper or all lower case.
heheh
Yea. I avoid keyboards with windows keys, which is to say I use old keyboards. But they still work, after 8 years, and I love to type on them. I have this old Wang keyboard from where my mother used to work, and it has all these extra keys across the top for when you were using the mainframe terminal emulator. They thing is a tank. It's heavy and it's very comfortable to use.
I go to my friends house from time to time and use his keyboards, which have windows keys. God, I was hitting them so much that I actually just popped them off the keyboard. I got a little tired of getting disconnected from my game because I tapped the wrong key.
I've never found the windows keys to be useful anyways, even when the computers at work have them. Lately, I've been seeing the windows keys get smaller and smaller, and even dissapear completely on many notebook computers. People just aren't using them.
- It's not the Macs I hate. It's Digg users. -
I've never understood the 'need' people have to capitalize SQL. It's not case sensitive. If one has a decent syntax highlighting editor, then the capital's don't help at all! I think having so many cap's in my code is fugly too. I've been doing SQL for 5 years or so, and I've gotten into many arguments with DBA's over this...
"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge"
- Charles Darwin
Actually, there are several legal documents (by type) that have sections that *must*, by law, be typed in all caps.
Ever look at those EULAs? That whole section that disclaims warranty and fitness for any purpose express, or implied. Those sections are always upper case because they must "stand out" in the agreement.
There are also significant parts of almost any legal document that "must" be typed in all-caps.
So lots of legal secretaries and the like would be much put out by the disapearance of the caps-lock key.
Plus, think about how hard it would make it for normal net-trolls to function on the internet if they had to learn to touch-type their troll-text with the off-hand for each keystroke pressing the shift key, sometimes for paragraphs at a time...
How could the religious extremeists and revisionist racists _function_ on the net without their caps-locks?
Innocent people shouldn't be forced to pay for inferior software development.
--"Code Complete" Microsoft Press
make the CAPS lock key the "any key"
YELLING!!!
You say it doesn't help if you have a syntax highlighting editor; you can't count on having a syntax highlighted editor all the time.
While I think there are benefits to it, many interns that I've worked with seem paralyzed if they don't have syntax highlighting. A few are paralized if they don't have auto-complete. If the code REQUIRES syntax highlighting to be understandable, clearly you need to adopt a different style.
If you don't have SQL syntax highlighting, the more complex the SQL statement is the more it benefits from the all-cap keywords. That in itself is enough to justify (for me) it's use. Since I compose my SQL statements in my C++ interface code, I don't have SQL syntax highlighting; the C++ editor highlights them all as strings. Using caps really helps readability, especially when the SQL statements are complex and require several lines to compose.
//TODO: Think of witty sig statement
I know I'm going to get flamed for this, but every now and then while working as tech support I'd have to tell people to reboot their computer rapidly using the reset button. Sure, turning the thing off and unplugging it for a while would also generally work, but by that time the people wanted the solution that most closely resembled KICKING THE F*%KER IN THE TEETH!!!!
The ______ Agenda
YOU INSENSITIVE CLOD!
It's a fairly common convention to have macro names in C/C++ be all caps. This is where I seem to use the CapsLock key the most anyway.
"In mathematics, it's not enough to read the words -- you have to hear the music"
Great for things like...
$_SERVER["HTTP_REFERER"] etc.
Long live caps lock I say.
There are several keys that I think should be standard on all keyboards, not just to avoid having to use combinations, but mainly to avoid having a different combination in each program (ex., some programs use Ctrl+Z for undo, others use Alt+Backspace, etc.). Here's my list:
Most of these keys could simply emulate the most common shotcuts (ex., Help = F1, Cut = Ctrl+X, etc.), so they would automatically be compatible with most existing programs.
I doubt this will happen anytime soon, though, since Microsoft is pretty much the only company with the power to dictate a "standard", and the fact that the only new keys to appear in several years are the "winkeys" shows that their idea of a "useful" key is one that has their logo on it, even if it's only used about once a month (or, in my case, not even that).
Also, one thing I'd like to see is a mouse where, instead of a scroll wheel (or two wheels), there was a mini-trackball, that could be used to scroll both vertically and horizontally. I'm surprised no-one has come up with this yet (at least I've never seen one).
RMN
~~~
I have a woman and money. Life is good.
In your example I would use shift key because there is alot of switching between upper and lower case.
Because I so rarely use caps lock, it becomes a distraction to use. Its just so much more natural to hold shift and type "s-e-l-e-c-t" than pausing, looking down, and hitting caps lock. Yeah I know caps lock is right above shift, but I have trained myself to not accidently hit it, so I just can't naturally hit caps lock while typing .
I only caps lock when I know at the beginning of a large chunk of text that I will be using all caps.
I think this article does beg the question "When should we trade tradition for efficiency?"
D6 63 0D 70 89 81 BB 8E 7B 7C 5F 5D 54 EA AB 73
.. is like cruise control for cool!
JUST RECENTLY I RECEIVED A MAIL FROM A BUSINESS MAN FROM AFRICA OFFERING ME USD 50,000,000 (IN WORDS? FIFTY-FIVE MILLION US DOLLARS).
:? HE SIMPLE WRITES AN QUESTION TAG INSTEAD?
OF COURSE? IT WAS QUITE HARD FOR ME TO READ HIS LETTER? AFTER ALL? AS A NATIVE FRENCH SPEAKER (HE IS COMING FROM COTE D'IVORE) HE IS NOT USED TO THIS STRANGE ENGLISH GRAMMAR. AND THEN HE IS AVOIDING ALL THESE STUPID EXTRA SYMBOLS LIKE , . AND
BUT WHAT WOULD YOU DO? I PERSONALLY THINK THAT IT'S OK HAVING TO READ THESE COMPLICATED EYES HURTING EMAILS? AFTER ALL? IT'S ABOUT FIFTY-FIVE MILLION US DOLLARS.
FROM KWENCH? MAY GOD BLESS YOU
---
this Text here in sometimes Caps and sometimes none caps is used to break slashdots lameness filter. Just ignore it. Heck, haven't I written lots of comments and even submitted a story on proper pattern recognition? if people'd just listen to me... then this filter wouldn't be so easy to break it. this Text here in sometimes Caps and sometimes none caps is used to break slashdots lameness filter. Just ignore it. Heck, haven't I written lots of comments and even submitted a story on proper pattern recognition? if people'd just listen to me... then this filter wouldn't be so easy to break it. this Text here in sometimes Caps and sometimes none caps is used to break slashdots lameness filter. Just ignore it. Heck, haven't I written lots of comments and even submitted a story on proper pattern recognition? if people'd just listen to me... then this filter wouldn't be so easy to break it. this Text here in sometimes Caps and sometimes none caps is used to break slashdots lameness filter. Just ignore it. Heck, haven't I written lots of comments and even submitted a story on proper pattern recognition? if people'd just listen to me... then this filter wouldn't be so easy to break it. this Text here in sometimes Caps and sometimes none caps is used to break slashdots lameness filter. Just ignore it. Heck, haven't I written lots of comments and even submitted a story on proper pattern recognition? if people'd just listen to me... then this filter wouldn't be so easy to break it. this Text here in sometimes Caps and sometimes none caps is used to break slashdots lameness filter. Just ignore it. Heck, haven't I written lots of comments and even submitted a story on proper pattern recognition? if people'd just listen to me... then this filter wouldn't be so easy to break it. this Text here in sometimes Caps and sometimes none caps is used to break slashdots lameness filter. Just ignore it. Heck, haven't I written lots of comments and even submitted a story on proper pattern recognition? if people'd just listen to me... then this filter wouldn't be so easy to break it. this Text here in sometimes Caps and sometimes none caps is used to break slashdots lameness filter. Just ignore it. Heck, haven't I written lots of comments and even submitted a story on proper pattern recognition? if people'd just listen to me... then this filter wouldn't be so easy to break it. this Text here in sometimes Caps and sometimes none caps is used to break slashdots lameness filter. Just ignore it. Heck, haven't I written lots of comments and even submitted a story on proper pattern recognition? if people'd just listen to me... then this filter wouldn't be so easy to break it.
Earlier Caps Lock/Cntrl had the correct placement also on "PC", my first "laptop" I got 1988 had it at the right place. It was IBM with their PS2 layout who destroyed the keyboard, and made it necessary to swap the cntrl-keys. Those who designed these keyboard obviously didn't use emacs. The Amiga also had the Cntrl key in the right place.
Keyboards still have a Cap Locks Key? I bought a keyboard without one years ago. Never gonna go back.
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i can't use a keyboard with out a windows key =\
i'm addicted to win-e to open explorer
and win-r to open run, plus the ever useful win-d to minimize everything
plus it's really nice when you combine it with a program that lets you define hotkeys
like my win-q to open explorer, win-i to open IE etc, never have to worry about conflicts with app hotkeys that way
but i'm just a keyboard junkie and hate using my mouse whenever possible
Syntax highlighting is all very well when you're writing the code in the first place, but if you're trying to debug what's going wrong with an app (for example by tailing a log of SQL commands executed) then capitalisation makes things much, much easier to quickly read and understand.
Blaming GW Bush for the Iraq war is like blaming Ronald McDonald for the poor quality of food.
It's rather common, and also considered good pratice, to do final variables in all caps. Also all caps are frequently used for #-defines in C and C++
If the article isn't a troll, then I don't understand.
Your average keyboard nowadays is loaded with a gazillion of useless keys.
To start, there is F1 to F12, which are only used by, say, 20% of users.
How many times in the past 5 years have you used Scroll Lock? Couldn't 'print screen' and 'break' be on one key? (Oh wait, sys req is actually used by linux kernel debuggers, I forgot)
But that's just a start. What about the "Internet keyboards" of this age. Where I live, most (or all) shops don't sell non-Internet keyboards, so you're stuck with these keys:
E-mail, Shopping, Search, My Home, Media, Volume (+/-), Mute, Play, Stop, Previous, Next, Favorites, Community, My Sites, Finance, Sleep, Back, Go.
Oh, I almost forgot the Windows key and the 'right-mouse-button' key, which are completely unnecessary for Windows, and a complete waste for other OS-es.
So you're complaining about Caps Lock, a key that has been on every keyboard for ages, and that most people use, although infrequently, and more so for documents than for source code nowadays, while nowadays there are over 20 completely useless keys that are forced on you by keyboard producers like Logitech and Microsoft??
Get serious.
- Erwin
Yes, dear slashdot-readers, contrary to your assumptions there are some parts of the world in which other languages than english are written.
I for one have a keyboard featuring keys labelled ö/é, ä/à and ü/è for writing german and french. And of course, the only way to get Ö/É, Ä/À or Ü/È is capslock.
Even better, with my capslock turned on I get a load of special characters like this:
@ØÆßÐK""
Cool eh?
--
"The more prohibitions there are, The poorer the people will be" -- Lao Tse
Damn what's the world comming to, first BSD dying and all, and now capslock? It's a sad world indeed.
Ik denk altijd goed na, voordat ik iets stoms zeg.
A great way to replace the capslock key would be to tap shift key twice to enact full capitalization.
Why is this so much easier to read
select *
from tblWhatever a
join tblYaddaYadda b
on a.ID = b.ID
where b.foo = 1
than: SELECT *
FROM tblWhatever W
JOIN tblYaddaYadda Y
ON W.ID = B.ID
WHERE Y.foo = 1
??
There are other potential problems in your SQL that unrelated to whether the reserved words are all caps or not. For instance: SELECT * can get some unexpected results. [First what table are you selecting from - not that important really, since you were just trying to show readibility.] However, even though the table of interest may have an altered structure you might not be seeing columns of interest if the stored procedure that contains this code was not refreshed after the structure change. You are using stored procedures I assume.
Another simple hint: use aliases that are more easily connected to the table name. Many of us use many more than two tables in our Joins.
For many reasons stay away from selecting everything, if you have no need for most columns. An easy way to bring your system down or locking others out if used in combination with temporary table on an older version of a backend server.
Just because you no longer have an interest in using all caps key, does not imply others do not. There are other more important problems.
...the latching shift-lock that some early-80s home computers had? If you pressed it, it literally latched down until you pressed it again, and it behaved exactly like a held shift key. Now that would be infinitely more useful, both for the ability to physically feel it latch down (and thus avoid accidental pressing) and for the fact it affects more than just cap letters, it affects anything shifted.
I have a cousin who comes over to my house for holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc...), and he used to run a web page. I was showing him some stuff, and he went to go update the page. I noticed he was typing pretty slowly, especially around capitals, and then I looked down at the keyboard...
He was using Caps Lock twice for each capital letter!
Like instead of [SHIFT]H[/SHIFT]ello, world! he would do [CAPS LOCK/]H[CAPS LOCK/]ello, world!...
It was truly painful to watch. So, I told him, you shouldn't use the Caps Lock key like that, because that's what Shift is for! At the time, he got annoyed at me and said something like, I've already learned it this way, it's quicker for me...
Lo and behold, the next time he runs into me, he says thanks, I can type much faster now... it's now become a sort of joke between the two of us...
I can't figure out where he would learn that from, though... any ideas?
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Typing in British and Canadian postal codes is about the only time I can think of that I use the caps lock key. British codes look like:
LN6 2QJ
while Canadian ones look like:
N2M 5E5
The caps lock key has the avantage over the shift key in that it doesn't affect numbers. If I use the shift key, I tend to end up with something like:
N@M%E%
unless I'm very careful.
The question of removing keybaord keys has come up before somewhere else, and people asked why Scroll Lock is still there, and one response was that it would be more expensive to take it out and change the keyboard layout than it would be to leave it there. As far as CAPS LOCK is concerned, I imagine a similar argument applies, as well as the valid arguments for keeping it that have already been posted
There is another kind of evil which we must fear most, and that is the indifference of good men. -- Boondock Saints
I still use the CAPS lock key as long as its associated with a LED of any colour.
Between periods of burst programming, when I blankly stare at the glowing CRT, I tend to pass time by repeatedly pressing the CAPS lock key and getting absorbed by the pulsating LED.
By the way, all CAPS in this message were intentionally made by pressing the 'Caps Lock' key.
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Um, what's a capslock?
You didn't even read all of my post, did you? First, the example I used was taken from the comment I replied to. I don't think that person was trying to show off his skillz by selecting * and using bad alias names, but I especially don't think you should be jumping me over it.
Now that that's done, see my follow-up post where the formatting of my example query showed up properly.
I used to have this same argument regarding HTML. XHTML won that one for me.
I have a woman and money. Life is good.