I'm able to type क्स् just by typing "ks" even without your mapping.
The mapping ("ks" "क्स्") is simply redundant and not needed.
Do you have the latest file? On my computer, due to the presence of ("ksh" "क्ष्"), ks does not map to anything. It has been that way since atleast last Dec, which is when I submitted many changes to these files.
My guess is that you are trying to map Latin letters to Devanagari
glyphs, instead of mapping them to codepoints.
True - I do plenty of typing in both kannada and devanAgarI. I want a mapping which provides the most convenience to users, rather than sticking to some dogma[s]. In other words, users should be able to type what they want using the most intuitive mapping, with the least number of key-presses. So, focus is strongly on users rather than dogmas.
Please see below for examples.
In the same vein, all the below mappings are ambiguous:
("jn" "ज्ञ्") -- then how would you type ज्न ?
("nch" "ञ्च्") -- then how would you type न्च ?
("nCh" "ञ्छ्") -- then how would you type न्छ ?
I always prefer to type shankara to get शङ्कर rather than sha~Nkara. I prefer to type sanchaara to get सञ्चार, rather than having to type sa~Nchaara.
Next, ("ksh" "क्ष्") is ambiguous -- how would you type क्श् then?
Of course, I always prefer to type nakshatra for नक्षत्र and raakshasa for राक्षस. I would rather not have to press more keys than necessary, and 'shift' is one extra key press.
I have *never* needed to produce the character combinations क्श् ज्न न्छ etc.. As I said, I write a lot in multiple languages using both these scripts. In fact, I would request you to produce words which contain those characters from a dictionary of kannada, hindi or sanskrit. I doubt that you will find anything, and even if you do, I will be able to produce atleast 30 times more words with the क्ष्, ज्ञ् ञ्च् glyphs.
In the very same vein, for the earlier itrans mapping, one could have asked: "If ch is च्", how does one type "च्ह्"? Or ट्ह्? Or क्ह्? So, it is not like these problems were newly introduced - it is inherent given the phonetic constraints of mapping latin alphabet to अक्षर-s.
How did I type च्ह्? I have never needed to in all my writing, but if I need to here is what I do:
a] c <space> <backspace> h
b] c shift-space h <zero width non joiner>
c] c <ctrl-shift-enter> h
d] c <ctrl shift @ > h <zero width joiner>
Everything except [a] only works with devanaagarii (hindi and samskrit is what i use). [a] works with kannada also.