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Comment by JKCalhoun | Hacker News Reader

> capslock, the space bar doesn't need to be so big...

Why Capslock at all?

I don't think in two decades I have ever hit that key ... on purpose.

I'm curious, I hear this alot, but when I'm coding, whenever I need to type out constants, they're in ALL-CAPS. Do you remap caps-lock to an unused spot, or do you hold down shift while typing? I'm usually in vim or equivalent most of the time, FWIW.

I have an Ergodox-ez keyboard and I have gotten rid of the caps lock key, at least on my 'first layer.'

My keyboard enables me to create up to 32 different layers. I have 3 that I use 99.98% of the time.

My caps lock is available by pressing a key next to my left handed thumb and then pressing the key formerly known as the caps lock key.

What language do you type constants in all caps ?

I see it in Python.

Pretty common in C-family languages (global constants tend to be all-capped in many style guides), and for environment variables as well.

Devops people have to type environment variables quite often which are almost always uppercase by convention.

I see it in Programmable Logic Controllers. Engineering drawings often come in all caps and a program's input and output buffers are sometimes named to match. The older programs were in all caps because the programming terminals had no lowercase.

https://www.artisantg.com/itemimages/AB_1747_PT1_View1.jpg

I hold down the shift (or Copy/Paste, ha ha).

Yeah I use caps lock as esc, and shift type capitals

In vim, after typing `gravity_constant`, go to normal mode:

vb~

There, the word is now in CAPS.

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