From: paul at guertin.net (Paul Guertin)
Subject: [COFF] On having a slash
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 2020 08:53:21 -0400 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <bdcb517d-d24a-e1ad-113d-8310f9b48a5b@guertin.net> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <5AFF5796-5D64-4CCB-8FCE-E06005282D79@kdbarto.org>
My first exposure to computing was 8-bit computers, I was 9 or
10 years old. I typed in countless BASIC programs from magazines
and they used a slashed zero, so naturally I picked it up and
started using it in math class. I explained to the teacher
that it was a "computer thing" and she let me continue doing
it. I eventually stopped slashing my zeros about 10 years later
except when writing programs longhand.
I was taught to write '1' with a serif and '7' with a short
crossbar, and I still do to this day. I also write an open '4'
similar to the one on 7-segment displays, except with the
horizontal stroke extending slightly past the vertical.
When I started teaching math, I got into the habit of
horizontally slashing 'Z' on the blackboard but not on
paper.
Speaking of which, how do y'all represent a space character
in writing? I had a comp. sci teacher who would use a slashed
'b' character, but I never liked that (too big, hard to
distinguish from normal letters). I prefer using something
like character U+2423, a short straight bracket lying on its
back on the baseline.
Tangentially related, I remember when I started learning
about computers that almost everyone used a hyphen between
a modifier and the character: you'd write "Control-C" or
"Shift-6". Then something changed and how it seems more
common to use a '+' character and write it "Control+C".
Wikipedia's article for "Control-C" uses the hyphen in the
title but the plus sign in the article itself. Any idea
why it changed?
P.
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2020-04-13 12:53 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 22+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2020-04-13 9:01 dave
2020-04-13 11:30 ` david
2020-04-13 12:38 ` clemc
2020-04-13 14:10 ` mike.ab3ap
2020-04-13 14:21 ` thomas.paulsen
2020-04-13 14:23 ` imp
2020-04-13 12:53 ` paul [this message]
2020-04-13 14:12 ` imp
2020-04-13 15:29 ` krewat
2020-04-13 15:40 ` pdagog
2020-04-13 13:21 ` thomas.paulsen
2020-04-13 13:23 ` cym224
2020-04-13 13:36 `
2020-04-13 17:35 ` paul
2020-04-13 22:09 ` dave
2020-04-14 13:34 ` dfawcus+lists-coff
2020-04-14 14:23 ` gdmr
2020-04-13 22:12 ` krewat
2020-04-13 23:21 ` dave
2020-04-14 0:12 ` grog
2020-04-14 2:57 ` paul.allan.palmer
2020-04-13 15:14 rudi.j.blom
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