WordStarFamily

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* te - Text editor for CP/M

WordStar family editors all use the WordStar keyboard layout, either as the default or as a supported option.

WordStar Editor Family:


WordStar as native keyboard layout:

The originals:

Others:

WordStar command set as an option:

This family is amodal and has a famous keyboard layout called the WordStarDiamond.


The WordStar family of editors was very popular on CP/M and MSDOS. Borland (and Microsoft) both support these KeyboardLayouts in their modern Integrated Development Environments.
At one time, there were many text editors for MS-DOS using the WordStar command set. Borland issued an editor toolkit for their Turbo Pascal language, and a number of programmers implemented editors using it.

The WordStar command set has an overlooked advantage: it is keyboard independent. If you have a QWERTY keyboard and a Control key, you can use it. Arrow keys and function keys are not required. Similar comments apply to the vi command set, for the same reason.

In both cases, there was good reason for this. Vi was written when access to a Unix system was through a dumb terminal that might not have F-keys or arrow keys. WordStar originated under CP/M, on early 8 bit microcomputers with widely varying keyboard layouts.

--DMcCunney


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Last edited January 6, 2019 5:56 pm (diff)
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