newRPL: proposal for Alpha mode

[Helix]

(04-30-2015 04:42 PM)Claudio L. Wrote:  The blinking cursor in newRPL UI will be a letter.

I think that the blinking cursor as a letter is a good idea. I am ready to adopt it.

I have no problem with the choice of letters for the cursor (C for capital, it's obvious now!)

(05-01-2015 02:09 AM)Claudio L. Wrote:  

(04-30-2015 11:28 PM)Helix Wrote:  

(04-30-2015 04:42 PM)Claudio L. Wrote:  •Pressing and holding Alpha with other keys will temporarily toggle L/C (G/g) mode until released (this basically moves the left-shift functionality to the Alpha key) for the letter keys, may have other uses for other keys, for example for the numbers could insert subscript numbers, like A₁.

I don't understand this sentence (English is not my mother tongue). Could you reword it?

Neither is mine, let me try that again.
The idea is that if you are let's say in programming mode, and you want to type the letter T for a variable name, instead of pressing Alpha to switch to alpha mode, then T, then Alpha again to be back in programming mode, you press and hold Alpha, then press T.
When you release both keys you are back in programming mode. If you want to type MYVAR while in programming mode, just keep Alpha pressed while you press M, then Y, etc... and when you release alpha, you are back in programming mode. It's harder to explain than it is to do it.

This explanation is very clear, but does not refer to the sentence I quoted above.
In fact, I understand there will be two different functions for pressing and holding the alpha key:
- when not in alpha mode, pressing and holding the alpha key will temporarily switch to alpha mode
- when in alpha mode, pressing and holding the alpha key will temporarily toggle between capital and lowercase letters.

It's hard to have a clear idea of how intuitive would be these key combinations only with words. I'm not sure it would be a vast improvement over the actual HP50g.

(05-01-2015 02:09 AM)Claudio L. Wrote:  For the numbers I'm not sure it would work well, because there's a conflict with the repeat feature on the keyboard. When you press and hold the number 1 you expect 11111111111111111111111..., rather than cycling sub/super/normal, but perhaps in some shifted plane it could work.

When I press and hold the number 1, I don't expect 11111111111, because:
- the hp50g doesn't work like that (and probably any other calculator)
- the same thing applies to letters
- I don't see the usefulness of this feature. If by accident I have to enter such a number, I must count the number of digits, so a keystroke for each is the right solution
- the subscripts (and superscripts?) should be accessible only in alpha mode