Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!lll-crg!ames!ucbcad!ucbvax!decvax!decwrl!hplabs!tektronix!uw-beaver!fluke!inc From: inc@tc.fluke.COM (Gary Benson) Newsgroups: comp.emacs Subject: Re: While we're blaming the terminal... Message-ID: <844@tpvax.tc.fluke.COM> Date: Fri, 12-Dec-86 17:13:01 EST Article-I.D.: tpvax.844 Posted: Fri Dec 12 17:13:01 1986 Date-Received: Tue, 16-Dec-86 00:27:47 EST References: <8612020023.AA05566@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> <533@omssw2.UUCP> <2789@slate.Diamond.BBN.COM> Organization: John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc., Everett, WA Lines: 33 Summary: It's not time to scrap ANSI X3.41 just yet! In article <2789@slate.Diamond.BBN.COM>, mlandau@Diamond.BBN.COM (Matt Landau) writes: > In comp.emacs (article <533@omssw2.UUCP>), dps@omssw2.UUCP (Dave Schneider) writes: > > > >I would like to add a complaint about terminal manufacturers who set up the > >arrow keys to send single character control codes. > > > >Does anyone know why Televideo and Wyse made this contribution to brain- > >damage? > > Well, one can argue that sending single-character > codes for arrow and function keys makes it a lot easier to write programs > to use those keys. Having to ... deal with arrow keys that send > things like Esc-[-A is pretty much a crock. It's just a crock that has > been around for a long time, thanks to things like the VT100. When > does it become time to say "We don't CARE if that's how it's been done > for the past 10 years. It's time to do something BETTER!"? > -- > Matt Landau BBN Laboratories, Inc. Oops, I think your ignorance is showing there podner. ESC-[-A isn't just something DEC pulled out of the air to confuse poor EMACS! The VT-100 terminal is so widely used and became an industry standard because it implements ANSI standard X3.41. Standards are awfully tough to come by, and it is not a trivial task to create them. X3.41 is responsible for ASCII, the 8-bit character standard that makes it possible for you to so effortlessly complain about "multiple character codes". So what if a key generates a string? Computers deal with strings quite as well as they do with single characters. I'll vote in favor of scrapping X3.41 just as soon as you volunteer to design the new standard. Then sell me on it. Then sell it to the world. Until you're ready to do that, just relax, learn the rules of the game and play by them.