Talk:Esc key

I have read in "Jones and Bartlett - Introduction to 80x86 Assembly Language and Computer Architecture" that "ESC" abbreviation stands for Extra Services Control, but most people says "escape". Bottom of the Page 20, though. Please do a research about this. 190.79.31.47 (talk) 17:52, 15 May 2008 (UTC) ParanoidE
 * No, the Escape key and corresponding ASCII code (27 dec.) goes back to the 1960's, long before the 80xx processors came about. 97.84.86.66 (talk) 01:04, 28 March 2016 (UTC)


 * NO NO NO. There was an ESCape CHARACTER, but not an ESC key. The first popular CRT with an ESC key was in 1974. See below, "==Correction re Bob Bemer's ESC=="

Esc to cancel dialogs
At least for the MessageBox function, Esc is only documented e.g. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms645505(VS.85).aspx to activate the Cancel button, if present, not the No or Abort buttons. In actual fact it seems to be able to cancel an OK-only dialog too, although in that case the return value is 1, as if OK was clicked. --80.175.250.220 (talk) 13:09, 27 January 2010 (UTC)

symbol
symbol section seems messy. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Krontethjort (talk • contribs) 18:29, 16 July 2013 (UTC)
 * Now better? -- Karl432 (talk) 23:39, 16 July 2013 (UTC)

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Correction re Bob Bemer's ESC
The following text is incorrect: DELETED:
 * The Escape key's creation is credited to __Bob Bemer__, a computer programmer who worked for __IBM__. He created the key in 1960 to allow programmers working with diverse machines to switch from one type of code to another. _ref_ Kennedy, Pagan, "Who Made That?", New York Times Magazine, October 7, 2012, p. 20 _/ref_

WHY DELETED? The NYTimes Oct. 2012, over 8 years after his passing, got it wrong.

The NYTimes Obit (June 25, 2004, by Steve Lohr) got it right:
 * "Robert W. Bemer, 84, Pioneer In Computer Programming" said that he worked on CODES, ASCII & what the article didn't name but became EBCDIC.

https://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/25/us/robert-w-bemer-84-pioneer-in-computer-programming.html is the article. His work may have included an ESCape Character, but not an ESCape key. Pi314m (talk) 06:44, 9 August 2018 (UTC)

While the article is generally correct, including the reference to decades older teletypewriters, the key was in use on microcomputers including the Apple 1 and in placement the Apple ][ half a decade before the IBM PC. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.56.152.36 (talk) 16:17, 19 August 2018 (UTC)

Interesting read, but it goes back further than this
Well I guess I'm just getting a bit old, because I was around at the time. And I've probably got a few things in the loft (attic) I might get around to photographing some of it (including the ASR-33, which was the first terminal I remember having an Esc key.

Guess what folks - in the 1960's there were no dialog boxes to cancel out of. And no interactive screens (or VDUs). This was a character printer, and printed one character a time. Or scrolled the paper up. So all ideas as to the origin of Escape relating to VDUs are wrong.

So what was it all about? Okay, a KSR terminal basically sent characters (in ASCII or Baudot usually) down a current or voltage loop line. It was considered DTE (Data Terminal Equipment). It often lead to Data Communications Equipment (DCE) - i.e a modem - after which it ended up at a mainframe, possibly via some "smart" equipment along the way. When you were talking to your mainframe, everything you typed when through. If you wanted to escape from that and start talking to your DCE, you had to send something to the DCE to intercept and switch modes. You're getting the idea now.

Here's the fun part. Using a current loop you could signal equipment by using the break key - which basically broke the loop while you had it down, and could be distinguished for the digital character data being sent. You could do this with the newer RS-232, but it's a bit iffy; especially if it's fed through a modulator and aint a voltage for long. Current loops go a long way, voltage doesn't.

When VDUs and microcomputers turned up, they tended to adopt the ASR-33 keyboard layout, which was the de-facto standard by then. Slowly the Esc key found other uses in applications. The CTRL key got moved and replaced by a Caps-Lock (there was no need on an ASR-33 - UPPER CASE ONLY). ESC got moved further away and was replaced by a Tab key (as on a typewriter).

The reference for all of this is in my loft or in my memory. When I write my memoirs it can go to the main article, referenced accordingly.

It's not that what others have said is wrong; it just doesn't get back far enough. And I'm not 100% sure I do either; it may got back as 1920's telex/teleprinters.

F J Leonhardt 19:01, 6 September 2018 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Fjleonhardt (talk • contribs)

Odd edit: 16:03, 16 March 2024‎ ‪102.90.57.59‬
The last edit seems rather odd! Might be best to revert it all? Alanjmcf (talk) 15:05, 17 March 2024 (UTC)