Re: How the heck to customize the keyboard?

AAsk wrote:
Just curious: how do you type APL symbols when using APL2?

The 'standard' APL2 keyboard layout has italic upper case letters and numerals on the unshifted keys. Most of the APL symbols are on the shifted keys and some are on the Alt keys. To a large degree the APL symbols are placed on keys that make them easy to remember: {iota} is on i, {rho} on r, {epsilon} on e, {jot} on j, {circle} on o, etc. Nevertheless, this arrangement is not very convenient for people who are constantly switching between APL and other environments which use the standard ASCII keyboard.

Most people use some form of 'unified' keyboard. How this is done depends on what version of APL2 you have.

In the old DOS version, there was a keyboard map within the interpreter with documented location and format that could be modified on the fly using {quad}PK, ALP2 for DOS's equivalent of BASIC's PEEK and POKE.

In the OS/2 version there are a number of built in keyboard layouts to choose from. This is done by pulling down a menu and selecting the layout you want to use. It is also possible to modify the existing layouts and to create new ones. This can also be done from menus but is tedious. The menu system only shows one shift at a time. There are 47 mappable keys and eight shifts altogether: all possible combinations of Shift, Ctrl, and Alt. Except in the unshifted case and Shift alone where the location of the letters help keep your bearings, it is easy to get lost on the keyboard diagram. Not all keys work in all combinations. The process is tedious but once done it works well. The keyboard layout information is stored in the registry, specifically in the user ini file boot:\os2\os2.ini. A set of layouts can be moved from one system to another by exporting them from the registry and importing them on the other system, saving several hours of tedious work. The same basic system also provides for attaching sequences of key strokes, with or without a final enter to the function keys.

I can't say for sure how the Windows version works, but I believe it is more or less similar to the OS/2 version.

The layout I use was originally conceived by Ted Edwards. While he was helping me with a major project in the early 90's, I suggested a few enhancements, which he incorporated, and when we switched from DOS to OS/2, I also figured out how to migrate the system to OS/2 without starting over from scratch.

Basically the keyboard layout we have been using for over eighteen years is based on the following criteria:

1. If a character is visible on the keycaps of the standard ASCII keyboard, it remains in its usual position and shift.

2. The APL characters on the shifted keys in the standard layout are moved to the Alt shift. This necessitates moving the APL characters on the Alt numeric keys on the standard keyboard to the Ctrl shift. (Subject to a small number of exceptions mentioned below, this means that the only change for an experienced used of the standard APL layout is to use Alt when he would have used Shift and Ctrl when he would have used Alt, and of course be happy with lower case or type with capslock on. Most people adapt in a few hours.)

3. The single and double line box drawing characters are placed in the Ctrl shift on 'mnemonically' arranged sets of keys. Specifically, the nine single line corner, meet, and intersect characters are arranged in the obvious manner on q,w,e,a,s,d,z,x,c and the horizontal and vertical lines are on h and v respectively. Similarly, the corresponding double line characters are on i,o,p,k,l,;,comma,period,/,j, and b.

4. The remaining APL characters are distributed on otherwise unused Ctrl (or Alt) keys as 'mnemonically' as possible.

Given criterion 1, it seemed advisable to make a few exceptions to criterion 2. Specifically, since + and - are inverses of each other, it made sense to place {times} and {divide} in the Alt shift on the =(+) and - keys respectively and also to place {quad divide} and {ident} in the Ctrl shift on - and = respectively. For similar reasons {is} and {goto} were placed on [ and ] in the Alt shift and {left tack} and {right tack} were placed on the same two keys in the Ctrl shift. We have not found it necessary to use any combinations that require more than one of Shift, Alt, and Ctrl.

I will be happy to send a pdf of the complete layout that should display correctly on any system to anyone who is interested.
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