Re: Dvorak (& Lojban)

[bob@MEGALITH.RATTLESNAKE.COM]

   We've all heard how QWERTY was designed to slow down typing/to avoid key
   jams when adjacent keys were pressed too quickly.  But I don't believe
   it - if that was their intent, why on earth would they have left 'e' 'r'
   and 't' next to one another?

According to the various histories of the typewriter that I have read
(all of which may be passing on legend, of course, but which favored
QWERTY) Sholes started out with an alphabetical layout, then moved
keys until his test texts, using single finger typing, did not cause
jamming.  Neither he nor the companies that used his keyboard changed
the layout when (quite soon) someone put a spring under each key so
they would snap back quickly rather than slowly (in Sholes' design, the
keys fell back under gravity).   If Sholes' test texts did not include
words with `ert' in them, they were not tested.

As far as I know, Sholes' design was like a computer program you see
nowadays that does not include a well designed mechanism for readily
extending the program (i.e., a `little language', but not poorly
designed like most, but well designed); Sholes' presumption was that
the particular keyboard design would never be used for more than a
little while.

--

    Robert J. Chassell               bob@rattlesnake.com
    P. O. Box 693                    bob@ai.mit.edu
    Stockbridge, MA 01262-0693 USA   (413) 298-4725