Re: [Bug-apl] Keyboard Support

[Juergen Sauermann]

Hi Martin,

thanks a lot for your comments.

GNU APL distinguishes between characters with APL relevance (∈ and ⋸ in your example)
and characters without APL relevance. The latter ones can be used in strings but not outside.
Inside strings all Unicode characters are supported; how they look on your screen is a different
story.

As far as ∈ and ⋸ are concerned, if I remember they were on different codepoints earlier,
but were then moved to where they are now. GNU APL has a concept of "alternate characters"
which means that you can use both 2208 and 220A for ∈ and 22F8 and 2377 for ⋸ (and a few more
for other characters that have multiple Unicodes). There could be more and if you find one then
please report it and I will make it another alternate character in GNU APL.

Thus if your font does not work then just change your xmodmap and everything will be fine.
Also, the output of the ]KEYBOARD command is configurable in the KEYBOARD_LAYOUT_FILE
item in one of the GNU APL  preferences files. You can use the /etc/gnu-apl.d/keyboard1.txt file as a
starting point for your own preferred output.

Changing the default codepoints is maybe not such a good idea because some APL fonts have
been adapted to those used in GNU APL already. Changing them would solve your preferences,
but create problems for others.

The Euro sign is currently in ⎕AV but not on the keyboard mainly because I am using a Dyalog APL keyboard
and haven't found the Euro sign on that keyboard. In earlier versions of GNU APL I had a different keyboard
and a also a different layout. If the Yen and Pound are still in the xmodmap files then I simply overlooked
them when I changed to the Dyalog layout. Every character in ⎕AV is subject to being thrown
out when new characters with APL relevance that are not yet in GNU APL's  ⎕AV show up.

The apl.xmodmap file was created by myself, but the others were contributed by other GNU APL users.
I can't really tell how the other files work or how to change them. But currently they seem to be fairly
consistent and therefore I would prefer not to change them myself. But if you would like to contribute
your preferred layout and codepoints then I would be open to include them into the GNU APL distribution.
You may have noticed that we have a number of keyboards already in the support-files directory.
The easiest way to do this is to send the files to the GNU APL mailing list.

I summary I tend to believe that all proposed changes can be achieved already by simply updating
your keyboard layout. Some hints about how to do that are also described in README-3-keyboard.

Best regards,
Jürgen Sauermann

On 11/15/2016 12:21 AM, Martin R. Bartels wrote:

Jürgen,

In apl.xmodmap/apl.xkb/apl.xkm (and others mapping ∊ and ⍷) I'd recommend using:

Char       Location    Codepoint Now   Codepoint Proposed

∊             alt-e                       2208 [∈]               220A [∊]

⍷              alt-shift-e            22F8 [⋸]               2377 [⍷]

This way, if someone has programmed the APL characters into a font you are using, you get them (as with: APL385).

The output of ]keyb would need to be adjusted as well.

I'd recommend (though less important)...

€              alt-shift-u            nothing                                20AC [€]

¿              alt-shift-q            nothing                                00BF [¿]

¡              alt-shift--             nothing                                00A1 [¡]

⍦           alt-shift-v            nothing                                2366 [⍦]  (for this last one, just "perhaps")

Why?

You have dollar, yen, and pound-sterling.  Where's the Euro? (I'm saying this and I'm from the US!)

You have ? positions available so make the alt-shift produce inverted ? (spanish)

Likewise alt-shift-hypen can do inverted ! (spanish)

These aren't "huge deals" - but nice.

The last one is the least certain one.  Since it is an unused character for gnu-apl I'm not terribly concerned.  Before implementing it, it might be wise to see what else from NARS or others should be included. 

Again, Thanks!

——Martin

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Martin R. Bartels

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