Bucky bit

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In computing, bucky bit in a binary representation of a character, is a bit that is set by pressing on a computer keyboard additional modifier key, other than ordinary shift key.

Contents

[edit] Overview

Setting a bucky bit changes the output character. A bucky bit allows to type a wider variety of characters and commands while maintaining a reasonable number of keys on a keyboard.

Examples of keys that could set bucky bits include: the alt key, control key, meta key, command key (<⌘>, a.k.a. the open-apple key), and option key (a.k.a. the closed-apple key).

In ASCII, bucky bit is usually the 8th bit (also known as meta bit). However, in older character representations wider than 8 bits, more high bits could be used as bucky bits. In modern X Window, bucky bits are bits 18-23 of an event code.[1]

[edit] History

The term was invented at Stanford and is based on Niklaus Wirth's nickname "Bucky". Niklaus Wirth was first to suggest an EDIT key to set the eighth bit of a 7-bit ASCII character sometime in 1964 or 1965. [2]

Bucky bits were used heavily on keyboards designed by Tom Knight in MIT, including space-cadet keyboards used on LISP machines. These could contain as many modifier keys as: SHIFT, CTRL, META, HYPER, SUPER, TOP, FRONT, and GREEK. [1]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Raymond, Eric S.; Cameron, Debra; Rosenblatt, Bill (1996). Learning GNU Emacs, 2nd Edition. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly, pp. 408-409. ISBN 1-56592-152-6. 
  2. ^ The Jargon File. Xinware Corporation, pp. 128. ISBN 189745466X. 

[edit] External links


 This computer-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.