Time we switched to unicode? (was Explanation of this Python language feature?)

[Chris Angelico]

On Tue, Mar 25, 2014 at 4:42 PM, Rustom Mody <rustompmody at gmail.com> wrote:
> You are not counting mouse
> For an emacs user
> Looking at mouse counts as 3  keystrokes
> Touching is more like 5-8
> https://sites.google.com/site/steveyegge2/effective-emacs

I think the cost of the mouse varies according to technology. I'm
currently working on two systems: my desktop (Sikorsky) with a classic
101-key keyboard (including numpad) and a mouse to the right of it,
and my laptop (Traal) with an IBM keyboard with a trackpoint (stick
mouse) in the middle of it. I can switch to Traal's mouse almost as
quickly as typing a G or H, but Sikorsky's mouse requires me to move
my entire arm across from home position to the mouse pad. (Which means
I do far FAR better playing a classic first-person shooter on Sikorsky
- I keep my left hand on WASD for movement and my right hand on the
mouse for orientation and weaponry. Much more efficient than Traal's
setup.)

But regardless of the exact cost, it's still significant. Switching to
the mouse requires (a) moving a finger or hand onto the mouse; (b)
pushing the mouse to the right position; (c) sighting the mouse cursor
on the screen; (d) adjusting the mouse position until you're where you
want to be; and finally (e) clicking, which is roughly the same cost
as one keystroke. The costs of a through d depend on environment and
circumstances (don't discount step c until you've tried this exercise
in bright sunlight), but will usually be of the order of the above 5-8
keystroke figure. You might be able to get it down to 3 keystrokes,
but not to 1.

ChrisA