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Comment by userbinator | Hacker News Reader

To me, "return" implies a "go back" action (like "backspace"), which is the opposite of "enter", so naming the key the latter makes more sense. Plenty of TUIs used the arrow keys, Backspace, and Enter for navigation.

Also, the text is nicely readable but none of the images are viewable.

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It was one of the things I found amusing my first time using OS X after growing up on Windows. Enter would “enter” a folder or execute a program, while Return in Finder starts renaming the file.

On Windows you can rename with F2, and on macOS, Command-Down will work like enter does on Windows (I think of it like going down a directory, since up does the opposite, though it also will launch a file).

You open files and directories far more often than you rename them, so F2 makes sense for rename but Enter / Return doesn't. It was clearly an afterthought as Macs were always meant to be used with a mouse.

As I understand it, "return" is a shorthand for "carriage return" - as on typewriters, going to a new line meant returning the carriage to its original (start of line) position.

Going to a new line is "line feed", hence the combo CR/LF.

Yeah, it kinda blew my mind when I figured out that DOS was actually correct in that way, and unix was 'cheating' by magically inserting CR into the terminal codes.

I believe that it also has to do with the fact that at the time there no ‘screens’, only teletypers. So a new line is “return the carriage to the start” and “feed another line” (of paper) into the printer.

Carriage return moved the paper (on typewriters before the IBM Ball) and moved the print head (the "ball" on an IBM typewriter, or the actual print head on TTYs and DECWriter equivalents) back to column 0.

Line Feed moved the paper up one line, Form Feed moved the paper up by a "form length" or, in the case of chain printers, to the particular position on the chain that was synchronized with the perforations on the paper itself.

The carriage return physical device on the typewriter combined moving the carriage (which could be done by hand) and the rolling of the paper up one line (which could also be done by hand) into one convenient motion.

> Carriage return moved the paper (on typewriters before the IBM Ball) and moved the print head (the "ball" on an IBM typewriter, or the actual print head on TTYs and DECWriter equivalents) back to column 0.

Carriage return always returned the carriage to the far right. Neither the print ball (if there was one), the printwheel, nor the typebars moved. Linefeed rotated the platen.

It's true the carriage return lever operated both the carriage and the platen. Manually operated with the left hand and pushed one level deep it would release the carriage lock and let you return the carriage to the right. Pushed a second level deep it would rotate the platen one, one and a half, or two lines depending on the setting.

> Neither the print ball (if there was one), the printwheel, nor the typebars moved.

Certainly the head moved on most if not all ball/cylinder/wheel devices. Look at the Selectrics, Teletype 33, the Diablo/Xerox/Qume terminals, as common examples.

I have never seen a Selectric in which the ball moved instead of the carriage. I can't imagine how complicated the mechanics would be for that and how often it would jam, break, or malfunction. Certainly not something a company such as IBM would make their reputation on. I used many Selectrics in my time.

You must be confusing these with something else. Every Selectric had a fixed carriage and moving head.

IBM Selectric: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNUEUth7qjc

IBM Wheelwriter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZabsF0aIE6k

NEC Spinwriter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCCB0AW9yT4

Diablo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5bodpSsFl8&t=342

Teletype Model 33: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6N8gu5F894k

You’re “returning” whatever text you typed to the program accepting input.

That doesn't quite fit the regular usage of the word. When someone asks you a question, you don't "return", but rather "respond" or "reply" or perhaps "submit" your response.

Some people will "revert", which doesn't help matters much either.

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