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90

Programmers keyboard

90 points posted to Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Desktops and Laptops by johnh619 May 9

Since keyboards on computers only communicate with the pc and do not send data over long distances then they do not need to uses the parity bit. This means that the parity bit can be uses to double the number of keys on the keyboard. Of course we would not ever do this because it would make the keyboard to large and bulky and difficult to use. So what if we made the keyboard illuminated. Inside each key would be two leds; they would be two different colors and also in each key are two symbols; each sybols is matched to one of the colors of the leds. When the keyboard is set to normal then one color led would light and shine through the letter that is the same color and illuminate it; conversely when the keyboard is set to program then the other color led would light and show the symbol that is the same color as itself. Of course at the same time when the keyboard is switched from one mode to the other then the interface would switch also such that in the normal mode it would output the standard ascii set and in the programmers mode it would output programming symbols. This might allow the next programming language beyond c sharp and java to use special symbols and to avoid using the english punctuation for programming. So then the problems of literals would be gone and programming would be more understandable. Some symbols might be common like brackets and braces and would appear on both keyboard modes in the same place; also the period and comma and colon and semicolon might be common.
This would allow many programming symbols such as a caret with a equal sign together in conjunction. It would avoid having to memorize another set of macros everytime someone decided to change a language like c plus plus to c sharp or whatever. It might revolutionize the entire programming world so that languages would not continue to go through endless evolution.

phubert
May 9		 Well, sorry Johnh619, but this really isn't that well written...difficult to follow,

Still, I think it may be one of the best and most original ideas I've SEEN on IdeaStorm!

As a fully user-programmable keyboard... OR something like Firefox with available -extensions- that would LOAD a complete keyboard SET...

hmmmm...

how many bits DO keyboards transmit, anyway???

Are they 7-bit ASCII?
jmxz
May 9		 Wow - flashbacks to a long time ago.
Anyone remember when you could find keyboards with all the APL programming language symbols; as well as a shift-like-key to get greek letters, and also didn't just have "shift", "ctrl", and "alt" but also "meta", "super", and "hyper".

http://world.std.com/~jdostale/kbd/SpaceCadet1.jpeg



APL was the coolest language. Here's the APL program to generate prime numbers:
(∼R∈R∘.×R)/R←1↓⍳R
Totally matches the Ideas sentence "this might allow the next programming language beyond c sharp and java to use special symbols and to avoid using the english punctuation for programming."
phubert
May 9		 :-)

That ALSO looks close to the IBM Selectric KEYS ... should make for easier (more accurate) typing than the more compact ones
aikiwolfie
May 10		 I think maybe we need a TAKE NEW PARAGRAPH button for programmers.
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