Re: Unit Scaling Prefixes: (was Birthday Wish)

["Donald E. Simanek" <dsimanek@EAGLE.LHUP.EDU>]

On Wed, 14 Apr 1999, Rick Tarara wrote:

> If one uses Word (other word processors as well--I suspect) you can setup a
> number of key combinations to print any symbol, including the Greek letters.
> The Alt-character sequence is undefined in Word for many of the letters and
> can be setup so that for example Alt-A prints an alpha, etc.

Rick is correct; most word processors today have these capabilities. Back
in 1986 I had WordPerfect (v. 4.2)  set up this way for not only Greek
Letters, but for h-bar, integrals, summations, and other exotic symbols as
well. Both alt- and ctrl combinations were used in a manner I customized
to my personal prejudices. I also designed bits and pieces to do
resistors, inductors, diodes, vacuum tubes and complete circuit diagrams.
In that version one had to design the characters, pixel by pixel, for both
the screen and the dot-matrix printer. This meant rewriting the printer
driver file--a bit of work, but once done the results were well worth the
trouble.

At about the same time a math professor from Penn State marketed a word
processor he wrote with full equation capabilities of astounding
versatility. Good as it was, I wasn't tempted to switch because my system
in WordPerfect could already do anything I needed.

Then in 1998 WordPerfect 5.0 was released, with a rich set of built-in
symbols and characters for several languages including Chinese, Japanese,
Cyrillic and Hebrew, as well as a WSIWG page preview, and keystroke macro
capability, which made the whole thing easy. The keystroke macros with alt
and ctrl combinations with letters and other keys gave over 100
touch-typable characters. I could want for more, but 100 is enough for
most purposes. Eventually even Microsoft Word got around to providing such
capability. Makes one wonder how we ever got along without such
conveniences back in the days of carbon paper, mimeograph stencils and
ditto masters.

And then WordPerfect 5.1 included an equation editor. So do some other WP
products now. But they are (in my opinion) klutzy for everyday use
compared to the keystroke macros I'd already standardized for my own use.
I want to "touch-type" everything. I refuse to use a mouse for such tasks,
and certainly wouldn't want to have to select symbols from pull-down
menus. That slows one up. I do use the WP 5.1 equation editor when I want
to make large equations for overhead projection. I consider Windows,
Menus, Icons and Prompts appropriate only for WIMPs. They decrease
productivity. Why should one have to pass a test in eye-hand coordination
just to type a symbol or enter a simple command?

        -- Donald

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Donald E. Simanek
dsimanek@eagle.lhup.edu                 http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek
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