4 ms·

> holding down the spacebar will advance the carriage by half a character (and releasing it, in normal use, advances the other half.) backspace did something s

> holding down the spacebar will advance the carriage by half a character (and releasing it, in normal use, advances the other half.) backspace did something similar, it was a common error correction to reposition the carriage halfway between two letters to sqeeze-in/add a letter that had been missed (once you get used to computers it's hard to remember that backspace didn't delete anything, it just moved you back)

benj111 4y ago
>once you get used to computers it's hard to remember.... True, but there's a big clue in the name.
- fsckboy 4y ago
  that clue could be interpreted as "type a space going backward, wiping out what was there" because 0x20 SPC is an ascii character which is a blank, while "space" on a typewriter is an abstract relative concept, depending entirely where you very finely (but very hard to see) positioned the carriage and it's not guaranteed to be blank if you position it where there is some preexisting typewritten ink.
  - benj111 4y ago
    Do the general populace understand a space on a word processor to be an ASCII (or utf) character though. Further how would a backwards space work under that model? Wouldn't that jump back to the previous character? But it's not obvious to me that it would obliterate the previous character
    - fsckboy 4y ago
      yeah, i don't think the general populace understands, but I'm talking to nerds here who understand ascii and are fascinated by the history of word processing technology, as this entire topic is about :)
leokennis 4y ago
It moved you back, one space.
- fsckboy 4y ago
  I'm talking about a mechanical typewriter, not an electric, what where you, rich? :) backspace moved you back smoothly as you pressed harder and harder till you let go of it and it encountered the little ratchet thing and stuck there, one space back. during the transition of smoothly moving back toward the ratchet, you could type another character anywhere on the way, and to catch the ratchet it actually had to move you back beyond one space.
rob74 4y ago
...and then you had to use something like this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tipp-Ex https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tipp-Ex to "delete" a mistyped letter by typing it again in white, and then correct the error.

benj111 4y ago

>once you get used to computers it's hard to remember.... True, but there's a big clue in the name.

fsckboy 4y ago
that clue could be interpreted as "type a space going backward, wiping out what was there" because 0x20 SPC is an ascii character which is a blank, while "space" on a typewriter is an abstract relative concept, depending entirely where you very finely (but very hard to see) positioned the carriage and it's not guaranteed to be blank if you position it where there is some preexisting typewritten ink.
- benj111 4y ago
  Do the general populace understand a space on a word processor to be an ASCII (or utf) character though. Further how would a backwards space work under that model? Wouldn't that jump back to the previous character? But it's not obvious to me that it would obliterate the previous character
  - fsckboy 4y ago
    yeah, i don't think the general populace understands, but I'm talking to nerds here who understand ascii and are fascinated by the history of word processing technology, as this entire topic is about :)

leokennis 4y ago

It moved you back, one space.

fsckboy 4y ago
I'm talking about a mechanical typewriter, not an electric, what where you, rich? :) backspace moved you back smoothly as you pressed harder and harder till you let go of it and it encountered the little ratchet thing and stuck there, one space back. during the transition of smoothly moving back toward the ratchet, you could type another character anywhere on the way, and to catch the ratchet it actually had to move you back beyond one space.

rob74 4y ago

...and then you had to use something like this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tipp-Ex https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tipp-Ex to "delete" a mistyped letter by typing it again in white, and then correct the error.