The modern keyboard descends from two types of devices
namely the teleprinter and keypunches. From the last 1940s until the widespread
adoption of the mouse in the 80s the keyboard remained the primary, most
integrated computer peripheral. Even today in the era of voice commands and
touch screens, keyboards continue to remain central to human- computer
interaction and tables as well as smartphones are adapting the keyboard as an
optical virtual means of data entry.
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| Keyboard |
However, you may not know that the QWERTY layout used by
keyboards even today was designed all the way back in 1972 by Christopher
Sholes with the keys being purposely distributed randomly to reduce the jamming
of hammers used to create individual letters o typewriters. When computer hit
the market, this layout was never changed to become more comfortable as all the
secretaries were too used to the old format and did not want to change.
Nowadays keyboards come in all sorts of shapes and variants
from one that can be strapped to your hand for doing work in tough conditions,
foldable keyboards. Laser keyboards that make any surface an input device or
even one in the shape of individual hands for those that get pain in their
hands from typing on traditional keyboards.
