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0 pointslloeki3y ago0 comments

> Apple calls the backspace key a delete key even though its not

Historically the backspace key is literally that, moving the typewriter's carriage back (when the space key moves it forward).

On current computers the space key now inserts a "space" character instead of simply moving the cursor a step right.

Backspace isn't symmetric to that anymore, as it doesn't even insert a space back but deletes backwards, so it is (pedantically) a misnomer.

And this is true for "modern" computers, older ones were closer to teletypes and would move back for overwrite (e.g try vi compat mode).

0 comments

jonathankoren3y ago

I personally loved the old Sun keyboards that backspace and delete right above each other so you could fix the most annoying^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hcommon terminal problem by just moving a finger instead of screwing around with tty settings.

drw853y ago

Isn't this kind of a "point of view" thing? Backspace does add a space backwards. If there was a character there, it gets replaced with a space. :D

bckr3y ago

That's not true though. The remainder of the text buffer is shifted. It really is a deletion and not an addition.

ghodith3y ago

I mean, that's true if you think of a space as exclusively a character. In the physical meaning of the word, what exists in place of the original character is now an empty 'space'. In some pedantic sense you have truly added space where there was once none.

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