4 ms·

The keyboard is intriguing: the two "LEAP" keys before the spacebar, obviously to be used with the thumbs, are not dissimilar to what some ergonomic keyboards a

The keyboard is intriguing: the two "LEAP" keys before the spacebar, obviously to be used with the thumbs, are not dissimilar to what some ergonomic keyboards are now using. Apparently they're both labelled "LEAP" on the top of the key while on the side it's written "LEAP AGAIN" (that's what I see from googling a few images). On Wikipedia it says these keys are for "incremental string search".

robinhouston 4y ago
They're briefly explained later in the article. It sounds as though they function similarly to ? and / in vim.
- whartung 4y ago
  Closer is eMacs ^s and ^r. You csn type ^stext and it will jump to the next instance of ‘text’. Keep hitting ^s and you continue searching. Pedantically it’s a keystroke less than / <enter>. The distinction is that the Leap key is more like a shift key bs how vim and emacs works.
  - retrocryptid 4y ago
    Yup. Jef was big on eliminating modes, so came up with the LEAP "semi-mode". Emacs ctrl-s enters a mode that you use ctrl-g to escape (or at least that's what I use, there are probably many other ways to exit search mode.) Subsequent ctrl-s presses in emacs is the equivalent of the "USE FRONT" / "LEAP AGAIN" key press.
  - robinhouston 4y ago
    You're absolutely right! I was weighing up whether to analogise it to Emacs or vi, and in my haste I made the wrong choice.
jessegrosjean 4y ago
Is anyone aware of other apps that clone Cannon Cat's leap feature? I've always wanted to implement in my own editors, but it's never quite reached top of the list. VIM search is similar in some ways, but not sure it's really the same thing. I don't know VIM well, but it seems to be missing many of the little details, anyway would be interested to know about any other apps.
- eesmith 4y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archy_(software)#Leaping https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archy_(software)#Leaping > Archy is a software system whose user interface introduced a different approach for interacting with computers with respect to traditional graphical user interfaces. Designed by human-computer interface expert Jef Raskin, it embodies his ideas and established results about human-centered design described in his book The Humane Interface. These ideas include content persistence, modelessness, a nucleus with commands instead of applications, navigation using incremental text search, and a zooming user interface (ZUI).
  - layer8 4y ago
    > The system provides two commands, Leap-forward and Leap-backward, invoked through dedicated keys (meant to be pressed with the thumbs), that move the cursor to the next and prior position that contains the search string. Leaping is performed as a quasimode operation: press the Leap key and, while holding it, type the text that you want to search; finally release the Leap key. This process is intended to habituate the user and turn cursor positioning into a reflex. > Leaping to document landmarks such as next or previous word, line, page, section, and document amounts to leaping to Space, New line, Page, and Document characters, which are inserted using the Spacebar, Enter, Page and Document keys respectively.
- wruza 4y ago
  I suspect that Shortcat app recently advertised here was named after it. If not, it is a cool coincidence.
- Klaster_1 4y ago
  https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33137433 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33137433
bitwize 4y ago
It basically works like C-x C-s in Emacs, but within even easier reach since you're in search mode as long as you hold down the LEAP key, and releasing it puts you back in regular editing mode.
- throwaway290 4y ago
  Is there a way to create such mappings in vim? E.g. pressed Shift sends vim to inc search mode and any input goes to search string.
retrocryptid 4y ago
If you press and release the LEAP key, it advances the cursor one character forward (or backwards if you hit the left leap key.) If you press down (but do not release) the LEAP key you enter a search semi-mode. As you type a search term in this semi-mode, the cursor moves to the first instance of that search term it finds. After moving to the first instance of the search term, you release the leap key to exit the search semi-mode. If you want to move the cursor to a subsequent instance of the search term, you press (and do not release) the "USE FRONT" key and press the leap key again (whose key front is labeled "Leap Again.") You can see this in action in this YouTube video, but it happens pretty fast so you have to watch carefully: https://youtu.be/o_TlE_U_X3c https://youtu.be/o_TlE_U_X3c

robinhouston 4y ago

They're briefly explained later in the article. It sounds as though they function similarly to ? and / in vim.

whartung 4y ago
Closer is eMacs ^s and ^r. You csn type ^stext and it will jump to the next instance of ‘text’. Keep hitting ^s and you continue searching. Pedantically it’s a keystroke less than / <enter>. The distinction is that the Leap key is more like a shift key bs how vim and emacs works.
- retrocryptid 4y ago
  Yup. Jef was big on eliminating modes, so came up with the LEAP "semi-mode". Emacs ctrl-s enters a mode that you use ctrl-g to escape (or at least that's what I use, there are probably many other ways to exit search mode.) Subsequent ctrl-s presses in emacs is the equivalent of the "USE FRONT" / "LEAP AGAIN" key press.
- robinhouston 4y ago
  You're absolutely right! I was weighing up whether to analogise it to Emacs or vi, and in my haste I made the wrong choice.

jessegrosjean 4y ago

Is anyone aware of other apps that clone Cannon Cat's leap feature? I've always wanted to implement in my own editors, but it's never quite reached top of the list. VIM search is similar in some ways, but not sure it's really the same thing. I don't know VIM well, but it seems to be missing many of the little details, anyway would be interested to know about any other apps.

eesmith 4y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archy_(software)#Leaping https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archy_(software)#Leaping > Archy is a software system whose user interface introduced a different approach for interacting with computers with respect to traditional graphical user interfaces. Designed by human-computer interface expert Jef Raskin, it embodies his ideas and established results about human-centered design described in his book The Humane Interface. These ideas include content persistence, modelessness, a nucleus with commands instead of applications, navigation using incremental text search, and a zooming user interface (ZUI).
- layer8 4y ago
  > The system provides two commands, Leap-forward and Leap-backward, invoked through dedicated keys (meant to be pressed with the thumbs), that move the cursor to the next and prior position that contains the search string. Leaping is performed as a quasimode operation: press the Leap key and, while holding it, type the text that you want to search; finally release the Leap key. This process is intended to habituate the user and turn cursor positioning into a reflex. > Leaping to document landmarks such as next or previous word, line, page, section, and document amounts to leaping to Space, New line, Page, and Document characters, which are inserted using the Spacebar, Enter, Page and Document keys respectively.
wruza 4y ago
I suspect that Shortcat app recently advertised here was named after it. If not, it is a cool coincidence.
Klaster_1 4y ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33137433 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33137433

bitwize 4y ago

It basically works like C-x C-s in Emacs, but within even easier reach since you're in search mode as long as you hold down the LEAP key, and releasing it puts you back in regular editing mode.

throwaway290 4y ago
Is there a way to create such mappings in vim? E.g. pressed Shift sends vim to inc search mode and any input goes to search string.

retrocryptid 4y ago

If you press and release the LEAP key, it advances the cursor one character forward (or backwards if you hit the left leap key.) If you press down (but do not release) the LEAP key you enter a search semi-mode. As you type a search term in this semi-mode, the cursor moves to the first instance of that search term it finds. After moving to the first instance of the search term, you release the leap key to exit the search semi-mode. If you want to move the cursor to a subsequent instance of the search term, you press (and do not release) the "USE FRONT" key and press the leap key again (whose key front is labeled "Leap Again.") You can see this in action in this YouTube video, but it happens pretty fast so you have to watch carefully: https://youtu.be/o_TlE_U_X3c https://youtu.be/o_TlE_U_X3c