Way Way Way OT

[Sandy]

This is probably the most OT thread ever, so consider that a warning.

As I typed on the keyboard one of my many posts, I noticed that there is a key that has the ? and the /. In order to type the ?, one has to use the Shift key. For each time one uses the /, one uses the ? probably a zillion times or more. All the other keys make sense to me, based on frequency of useage. So why is the ?-/ key as it is?


?????????Sandy

[William]

||||{}}{[[~~~~<><><><><>?????

It's fubar. :crap:


You think too much my friend. ;)


William

[rnhood]

Your keyboard expects you to have all the answers - not questions. :D

[stevep]

cause the bible says its supposed to.

[JohnS]

cause the bible says its supposed to.
NT or OT? :)
Actually, if you type in the full http:// addresses on the websites you visit, you would use the "/" more than the "?".

[cydewaze]

I use the / more. *hides*

or at least I used to.


There's an online chat program called mIRC, and the / is a command prefix. Like if you want to see information about someone, you'd do /whois nickname. If you want to get a list of chatrooms, you'd type /list. Etc.

I guess it's kind of a geek thing, and geeks make keyboards, so there you have it. :p

[News Man]

A programmer would use the / more than the ?.

[znfdl]

Also if you think back to LOTUS 123, you had to use a slash to bring up the commands.

[39cross]

If you revisit the history of ancient received wisdom, Nostradamus predicted that when this question was asked, the world would come to an end/

[ergott]

Ummm.

Brief history lesson. The keyboard layout was in use before the computer was. Typewriters have the same layout so any computer related answers are a little premature. ;)

[H.Frank Beshear]

Ummm.. Whats a typewriter? :p

[keno]

in your future forum messages, use "/" when you really mean "?", and commutatively, as well. We will all understand your posts to the present extent that we do.

keno

[pale scotsman]

Rumor has it that for computers when the asci character set was introduced in the 60's it didn't have a division symbol so the / was used. Heck even old typewriters didn't have the division symbol so / was used. I'm thinking conspiracy here. Hmmm... how many times was the division symbol used in everyday typing before the advent of computers... If you look at old typewriters the ? shared space with the mighty comma in some cases. I'm with you on this Super non Shift key Sandy. I want the ? without the shift key. Commas I can see, if you use 'em, but /... come on.

[ergott]

For each time one uses the /, one uses the ? probably a zillion times or more.
?????????Sandy

Maybe you do, but I've got all the answers already so that key (?) is pretty useless to me.

[flydhest]

hmmm, the simplest answer to me is the fact that to write fractions you need the / key. 1/2, 1/3, 1/4.

Financial markets only relatively recently went to decimalization, so things were quoted in 1/8's, 1/16's, 1/32's (read: one thirty-two . . . go figure, thirty second is too hard to say, I suppose).

I would be shocked if interogatives are more than a 1/10 of the sentences typically typed. Most novels--chosen for no good reason--have questions only in dialogue.

edit: in a completely unscientific survey, I just clicked on three stories from the first page of washingtonpost.com. Only one question mark in three stories. I stick by my assessment that it's frequent use of fractions for math types and infrequent use of question marks in general.

[Sandy]

Do you think that "/" are actually used more than "?" ? Even a while ago? Did you notice the "?" that I used in the first sentence? Did you notice that in the first and the second sentences I used the "?" ? How about in the first three sentences?......


Sentence Sandy

[flydhest]

a while ago . . . yep.

[palincss]

hmmm, the simplest answer to me is the fact that to write fractions you need the / key. 1/2, 1/3, 1/4.

Financial markets only relatively recently went to decimalization, so things were quoted in 1/8's, 1/16's, 1/32's (read: one thirty-two . . . go figure, thirty second is too hard to say, I suppose).

I would be shocked if interogatives are more than a 1/10 of the sentences typically typed. Most novels--chosen for no good reason--have questions only in dialogue.

edit: in a completely unscientific survey, I just clicked on three stories from the first page of washingtonpost.com. Only one question mark in three stories. I stick by my assessment that it's frequent use of fractions for math types and infrequent use of question marks in general.

And let's not forget, / is a directory separator on non-MS operating systems. If you do any work at the command line on an OS where the / is used, you'd go totally nuts trying to type paths using the shift key.

Apropos of question marks and the web: you do use ?s in URLs, to provide arguments. And god knows, we've got plenty enough of those here...

[flydhest]

I have to re-iterate the points made before that to my knowledge, the layout predates the use of computers (at least the extensive use) and so programming-based explanations strike me as significantly less plausible.

Of course, I could be wrong. I think that happened once.

edit: edit: I removed the link I had put up 'cos it was useless.

[e-RICHIE]

So why is the ?-/ key as it is?
'

[spiderman]

when he invented the internet
he used the backslash
because he never had any questions...
just answers
and backlash!

[Louis]

Post edited because it is nolonger relevant. This is the second time this has happened to me today...

Please ignore.

[67-59]

What the heck are you talking about////

Seriously, I agree that the question mark is probably used way more than the backslash. The one I have a bigger problem with is the "I" key. I use the capital "I" way more than the small "i", so is there any way I could get the capital "I" whan I just hit the "I" key, and a small "i" only when I use the shift///

[Sandy]

You use the "i" MUCH more often than the "I". You may use the "I" when you mean yourself, but you use the "i" in all the zillion words that happen to have an "I" in it. Just like the words "in" and "it" in the last sentence.


I

[flydhest]

67-59,

I assume you were joking, but read your sentence and ignore the "i" or "I" when you are referring to the key, and just look at the sentences. More "i"s.

That a ? may be used more often now than a / is plausible, but not a foregone conclusion. I use fractions a lot for work and almost never (at work) use question marks. Each job could see a large differene in these relative frequencies. My take on it was to think of some of the most common uses of typewriters at the time that I assume (potentially erroneously) was when the keyboard was established--pre-computer. The iconic image of a newspaper man in a smoke filled room, with tie loosened and button undone, sleeves rolled and fedora pushed back, banging out the breaking news on a typewriter. They answered questions, they didn't ask them. OK, well maybe a few, but I still think fractions matter a lot.

[67-59]

You use the "i" MUCH more often than the "I". You may use the "I" when you mean yourself, but you use the "i" in all the zillion words that happen to have an "I" in it. Just like the words "in" and "it" in the last sentence.


I

You may use the "i" more often, but I use the "I" more often. Maybe it's because I am always talking about myself, but....

[Sandy]

It is startling that there has been so much attention already given to this thread. A much more interesting question than my Simpleton Serotta Sandy question, is how were the positions of the letters on the keyboard determined? Now that is most interesting question.



???????????????????

[keno]

QWERTY keyboard history is right here: http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/story098.htm

You want more/ Does 4?2=2/

keno

[flydhest]

now, that question was answered in the link I deleted.

There was a guy who sold his patent to Remington (maker of guns) to make typewriters. Alas, a lot of the letters would jam if you typed too fast. So he rearranged them so that the most commonly used ones weren't side by side and thus reduced jamming. Prior to that, one arrangement was alphabetical. Some vestiges remain, note the position of dfghjkl

[William]

now, that question was answered in the link I deleted.

There was a guy who sold his patent to Remington (maker of guns) to make typewriters. Alas, a lot of the letters would jam if you typed too fast. So he rearranged them so that the most commonly used ones weren't side by side and thus reduced jamming. Prior to that, one arrangement was alphabetical. Some vestiges remain, note the position of dfghjkl

According to legend, the seemingly random layout of today's keyboards has its origins in the limitations of the first typewriters? The early machines were crude and prone to jamming if you typed too fast? The QWERTY keyboard was designed to place the most commonly used letters on the opposite sides of the keyboard, making jamming mechanically less likely? Legend has it that the QWERTY keyboard was also made intentionally clumsy (only one vowel in the home row, for instance) in order to slow down typists and further reduce the possibility of jamming?

Within a relatively short time, of course, typewriter engineering had improved sufficiently that jamming was no longer a major concern? But by then, the story goes, people were used to the QWERTY keyboard and we've been stuck with it ever since, even in the face of allegedly superior alternatives such as the Dvorak keyboard? Advocates say research proves the Dvorak is easy to learn and makes typing faster and more accurate? But it's never made much headway because of the crushing power of standards, even stupid ones?
;)

William

[flydhest]

Big Willie!

From the quick perusing I've been doing, even the "research" into the superiority of the Dvorak layout is debated! That said, standards matter a lot! I didn't like the question mark idea! I can I use the exclamation mark often! It's used often in math! I am not certain, how often, though!

5 times! 4 times! 3 times! 2 times! 1 time!

[William]

Big Willie!

From the quick perusing I've been doing, even the "research" into the superiority of the Dvorak layout is debated! That said, standards matter a lot! I didn't like the question mark idea! I can I use the exclamation mark often! It's used often in math! I am not certain, how often, though!

5 times! 4 times! 3 times! 2 times! 1 time!


WORD?

No!

WORD!



William!

[JeffreyG]

A programmer would use the / more than the ?.


If you actually use the computer for its intended purpose, computing,
you use / about a thousand times a day.

How many ? does a literary writer use in one day ?



////////////////////////// header files /////////////////////////////////////
#include "stdafx.h"
#include <iostream>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <ctype.h>
#include <time.h>

using namespace std;
///////////////// custom functions /////////////////////////////////////////////
int getYear(); /// user enters year
bool isLeap(int year); //// Check for leap years (true or false)
void dayName(); // days
void monthName(); /// months
int startDay(int year); /// for jan first
int monthCount(int counter); //// for days in a month
void newMonth(int startDow); /// day new month starts
void printAll(int year); // prints to screen

///////////////////////// declarations /////////////////////////////////////////
int year = 0;
int counter =1; // month counter
int startDow, daysInMonth, wrap;
int weekNumber = 0;

///////////////////////////// program main ///////////////////////////////////////
int main()
{
year = getYear(); /// gets year from user
printAll(year);

return 0;
}

int getYear()
{
char c;
cout << " Enter the year you would like: ";
do{
cin.get(c);
if(isdigit(c))
{
year=year*10;
year +=(int)(c-'0');
}
}while(c!='\n');
if(year == 0)
{
cout << " You Entered an Invalid Year !!!!!!!!!! \n\n\n";
}
return year;

}

bool isLeap(int year)
{
if (year % 400 == 0)
return true;
if (year % 100 == 0)
return false;
if (year % 4 == 0)
return true;
return false;
}
void dayName()
{
cout << " S M T W T F S " << endl;
cout << "---------------" << endl;
}
void monthName(int year)
{
switch (counter)
{
case 1:
cout << " January " << year << endl;
break;

case 2:
cout << " February " << year << endl;
break;

case 3:
cout << " March " << year << endl;
break;

case 4:
cout << " April " << year << endl;
break;

case 5:
cout << " May " << year << endl;
break;

case 6:
cout << " June " << year << endl;
break;

case 7:
cout << " July " << year << endl;
break;

case 8:
cout << " August " << year << endl;
break;

case 9:
cout << " September " << year << endl;
break;

case 10:
cout << " October " << year << endl;
break;

case 11:
cout << " November " << year << endl;
break;

case 12:
cout << " December " << year << endl;
break;
}
}
int monthCount(int counter)
{
switch(counter)
{
case 1:
daysInMonth = 31;
break;

case 2:

if(isLeap(year))
daysInMonth = 29;
if(!isLeap(year))
daysInMonth = 28;
break;

case 3:
daysInMonth = 31;
break;

case 4:
daysInMonth = 30;
break;

case 5:
daysInMonth = 31;
break;

case 6:
daysInMonth = 30;
break;

case 7:
daysInMonth = 31;
break;

case 8:
daysInMonth = 31;
break;

case 9:
daysInMonth = 30;
break;

case 10:
daysInMonth = 31;
break;

case 11:
daysInMonth = 30;
break;

case 12:
daysInMonth = 31;
break;



}
}
int startDay(int year)
{
startDow = (year+ (year - 1) /4 -(year - 1) /100 + (year - 1)/400) %7;

return startDow;
}
void printAll(int year)
{
for (counter =1; counter <= 12; counter++)
{
monthName(year);

dayName();

if (counter==1)
wrap = startDay(year);
else
startDow = wrap;

cout << " ";

for (int loopCount = 0; loopCount < startDow; loopCount++)
{
cout << " ";
}

monthCount(counter);

for(int dayCounter = 1; dayCounter <= daysInMonth; dayCounter++)
{
if (wrap == 7)
{
cout << "\n";
wrap = 0;

weekNumber++;

}

if (dayCounter < 10)

cout << " ";
cout << dayCounter << " ";

wrap++;
}
cout << "\n This Month starts on day number " << startDow;
cout << "\n Days in month are " << daysInMonth;
cout << "\n\n";
system("PAUSE");
cout << endl;
}
}