Author Topic: keyboard nomenclature question  (Read 1182 times)

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Offline wolfv

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keyboard nomenclature question
« on: Sun, 14 September 2014, 15:22:17 »
The end user sees a matrix of printed key caps on a keyboard and calls it a "keyboard layout".
The processor scans a matrix of electrically connected switches.
The key-cap matrix and electric matrix can be different.
Is there a word like "keyboard layout" that applies to the electric matrix of the keyboard?

I am writing a keyboard software and want to use meaningful variable names.
Thank you.

Offline rowdy

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Re: keyboard nomenclature question
« Reply #1 on: Sun, 14 September 2014, 17:19:00 »
I've heard it referred to as a "switch matrix".
"Because keyboards are accessories to PC makers, they focus on minimizing the manufacturing costs. But that’s incorrect. It’s in HHKB’s slogan, but when America’s cowboys were in the middle of a trip and their horse died, they would leave the horse there. But even if they were in the middle of a desert, they would take their saddle with them. The horse was a consumable good, but the saddle was an interface that their bodies had gotten used to. In the same vein, PCs are consumable goods, while keyboards are important interfaces." - Eiiti Wada

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Offline wolfv

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Re: keyboard nomenclature question
« Reply #2 on: Sun, 14 September 2014, 19:03:21 »
Thanks rowdy.

I just found Deskthority calls it "keyboard matrix" http://deskthority.net/wiki/Keyboard_matrix
I like "switch matrix" :thumb:.