posted
I know what you do with () and [], but we're given {} as well!
I know their use in programming, or at least in JavaScript, but what is their use in daily life?
I decided that whn I write something that needs to be enclosed in the sentence but not because of punctuation or in a ()-[] way, I use {}. That is, if I write a biblical reference I say something like: "it is a stated fact in {Nubers 7:68} that..." or "I read once in {Mishne Torah, Science Book: Torah Fundamntal rules - Chapter 1: Halacha 1}* that God is the sole God". Also, if I write a table or show an image with a tag below it'll be {from the IMDb.} or something.
But what's the proper use? Also what's the different between the two apostrophes (the one next to Semicolon Key and the one that if you SHIFT it will become a tilde)?
Jonathan Howard
* I still need to settle on a standard bibliographic system for showing what's in Mishne Torah, as there are five levels: The whole MT, the individual Book, the series of Halachot, the chapters and the rules themselves.
posted
The ` isn't an apostrophe. It's a grave accent.
Wikipedia has this to say about curly braces:
quote:Curly brackets (so-called in European English; North American English prefers braces) are sometimes used in prose to indicate a series of equal choices: "Select your animal {goat, sheep, cow, horse} and follow me". They are used in specialized ways in poetry and music (to mark repeats or joined lines). In mathematics they are used to delimit sets.
I would highly recommend not using them in the way you decided to.
posted
I have seen curly brackets used exactly that way before. Never understood why () and [] weren't sufficient, but there ya go. Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
So how can I get my grave accent to sit on top of letters rather than beside it: `e ?
quote:Curly brackets (so-called in European English; North American English prefers braces)
Personally I think "curly brackets" is a better name. Braces is a bit {yawn, boredom, sigh} inducing.
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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quote:Curly brackets (so-called in European English; North American English prefers braces) . . .
Weird. I've always thought it was the other way around.
Teshi: You can't, as far as I know. I really don't know why it's on the keyboard.
Jonathan: Curly brackets really don't have any use in daily life. They're mostly just used in the specialized settings that've already been mentioned.
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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I like to have a use for every button on my keyboard that can be typed into a word processor (and combinations, like SHIFT + <button>). I have uses for (), [] and <> (which I use to mark an Internet site's URL, or use to represent something to be inserted, suck as: "Hello, my name is <name>"), so I need to use {} for something - aside programming at which I am useless.
And why does the keyboard have a grave accent, but no other diacritical marks? Prejudiced discrimination!
Posts: 358 | Registered: May 2005
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posted
There are a lot of problems with the current keyboard. We have plus and equals signs, but no minus sign, division sign, or multiplication sign. There's a hyphen but no en or em dashes, straight quotes and apostrophe but no curly quotes and apostrophe. And then we've got mostly useless characters like the grave and tilde (which is another diacritical, by the way), the caret, curly brackets, and angle brackets. Who designed this layout, anyway?
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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posted
Typewriters, up to a level. But I've never used typewriters so even though the left "chunk" of the keyboard (namely the QWERTY alignment) is based on that, I don't know about the rest. Surely, in typewriters the CTRL and ALT keys were absent.
Posts: 358 | Registered: May 2005
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posted
Macs can utilize the grave key, but not the tilde. You have to option-N to get one that will go over a letter. I can't figure out what on earth the tilde key is there for, unless maybe those mathematical things where you can say 2~4 or something.
In Mexico, the keyboards have a tilde key like that, but you still can't make it go over the N. So -- you got me.
Posts: 8504 | Registered: Aug 1999
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posted
Yeah, 'cause Hatrack's pretty ineffective right now.
I'm sure there's some kind of software involved to let the computer know what's supposed to appear on the screen when you type. Knock yourself out, kiddo.
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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posted
You can easily change the way the keys on your keyboard map to actions. There are plenty of resources on it online, go ahead and do some googling if you want to try.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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quote:Jon Boy - There are a lot of problems with the current keyboard. We have plus and equals signs, but no minus sign, division sign, or multiplication sign.
quote: Let's make a new HatracKeyboard(TM)! We all have brilliant ideas, we'll base it on QWERTY, and we can manufacture it.
If you want it to be MORE effective, don't base it on QWERTY. QWERTY was designed to slow typing speeds down rather than to speed typing speeds up.
Posts: 15082 | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
I think Tom Davidson once linked to a really great article about the history of the qwerty keyboard and the longstanding myths about it and the Dvorak keyboard. I have no idea where that link is, unfortunately.
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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quote: And then you start using ·, which also isn't on the keyboard. See my point?
Oh, and for that matter, a real division slash is ⁄, not /.
If your point was, as originally said, that the lack of these symbols is a problem with the keyboard, then I guess I see it but not agree with it. I don't really want extra keys for a slash with a slightly different angle or a dot (which is showing as one pixel in that font and almost invisible) when / and * are easily understood and widely accepted for the same purposes. If you're in the habit of writing math textbooks, then I can see why you might want to have the keys for them, as well as at least a dozen other symbols my keyboard doesn't have or need.
posted
All I'm really saying is that a few characters like that would be more useful than characters like ~ and `.
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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posted
Let's make it German, then, QWERTZ! (Reminds me of Swiss QUARTZ watches.)
Who's in for a HatracKeyboard? I'll build my own punctuation style for it, if you want.
-;;־;–;—;―;−.
I just wrote down: hyphen; soft hyphen; Maqqaf (a biblical sign connecting two words, just like a hyphen); EN Dash; EM Dash; Horisontal Bar; Minus Sign. I think the Soft Hyphen won't appear, but still - you have so many symbols when, in fact, their properties in some cases are identical, but have ambiuses in different fields. Hyphen and minus, for instance.
Posts: 358 | Registered: May 2005
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posted
Oh, and it's Dvořak, by the way. Since we're discussing [endobily] diacritic marks: there's a caron/háček over the "r" in the name.
Posts: 358 | Registered: May 2005
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posted
A hyphen and a minus sign are only the same to a layman. A hyphen and an en dash, on the other hand, are identical (I think).
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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posted
I may be mistaken, but I think that's right, Jon Boy. I think an en dash is - and an em dash is —. The ens and ems come from typographic measurement units and are just another way of referring to the hyphen and the dash.
Posts: 8504 | Registered: Aug 1999
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quote: A hyphen and an en dash, on the other hand, are identical (I think).
Most definitely not! Type word-space-hyphen-space-word-space in MS Word and look what happens to the hyphen! Miraculously, it's an EN dash! (Which is why I don't use EM dashes, but EN for normal context.)
Posts: 358 | Registered: May 2005
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posted
And while a Hatrack keyboard would be cool, I think it would be hard to make it useful. I'm sure a lot of people would want all kinds of mathy programmy things and I would want one with more foreign diacriticals. A custom keyboard would be best if tailored to your specific function.
Posts: 8504 | Registered: Aug 1999
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quote:Originally posted by Annie: I may be mistaken, but I think that's right, Jon Boy. I think an en dash is - and an em dash is —. The ens and ems come from typographic measurement units and are just another way of referring to the hyphen and the dash.
That's just a hyphen, not an en dash. But yes, I know all about typographic measurement units. Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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posted
But their purposes and properties are the real issue.
Practically, they look very similar. They serve the same graphical association. But their fields and meanings are different.
Posts: 358 | Registered: May 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Haloed Silhouette: Oh, and it's Dvořak, by the way. Since we're discussing [endobily] diacritic marks: there's a caron/háček over the "r" in the name.
It's not, actually. The composer, however, also had an accute accent on the a.
Also, what in the world is "endobily"? If you want to be a language nazi, you're going to have to start using real words.
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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Their ultimate purpose (aside programming) is to be viewed in print or electronically on a screen. In those cases, their graphical images are virtually identical, so there's no real difference.
The real issue is when you get down to the actual meaning of each symbol; otherwise, Unicode wouldn't need SO MANY.
Posts: 358 | Registered: May 2005
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quote: If you want to be a language nazi, you're going to have to start using real words.
Jawohl, Mein Kommandant, but sometimes the 600,000 words that English supplies us are not sufficient. Ich haben in mir hertz das urge to construct mein own sprachens words.
Posts: 358 | Registered: May 2005
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