kyle@xanth.UUCP (06/19/87)
> You can say that you work better with control keys, or that you work better > with function keys, but not that "control keys are better" or > "function keys are better". I disagree. The placement (and number!) of function keys varies far too much from terminal to terminal for a programmer and user to agree on how to make best use of them. A user can certainly get used to using function keys, but if he uses more than one kind of terminal, he's likely to not have the same number of functions keys, same sized function keys or even same shaped function keys. This goes for those 'arrow' keys as well. I've seen users, who upon finding themselves on a terminal without arrow keys, are lost at sea because they never learned the 'h', 'j', 'k', and 'l' cursor motion commands in vi. Now if you're damning your software to one particular kind of terminal then I guess you afford to use every misbegotten key the terminal manufacturer decided to put on the terminal. Otherwise you're better off using control-sequences. I've seen the control-key in some awful places on a few terminals but I can rely much more on its position (and its very existence!) than I can those function and arrow keys. kyle jones <kyle@xanth.cs.odu.edu> old dominion university, norfolk, va