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Comment by joemi | Hacker News Reader

I don't know if I'd say it's the OG way. Both HJKL and numpad predate WASD, I think.

Are you comparing game bindings to vim bindings? Isn't that an apples/oranges thing?

Shamelessly stolen from Wikipedia:

  Examples of games that use HJKL are the text-based "graphic" adventures like NetHack, the Rogue series, and Linley's Dungeon Crawl. It is also used by some players of the Dance Dance Revolution clone StepMania, where HJKL corresponds directly to the order of the arrows. Gmail, Google Labs' keyboard shortcuts, and other websites use J and K for "next" and "previous".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrow_keys#HJKL_keys

Considering we're not discussing a game, it seems like a perfectly valid comparison.

"if you're into Unreal Engine key bindings." :shrug:

That phrase was in the parenthetical and as such doesn't seem to directly apply to the claim of "WASD is the OG OP way to navigate." Additionally, I was referring to the PRH Stellar Navigation Chart when I said we're not discussing a game.

Not if you play roguelikes.

I remember lots of old bbc games using zx;/ by default. in retrospect it was interesting how they defaulted to one hand for left/right and the other for up/down

Decades later I still have better muscle memory for the Beeb's typical ZX*? ( and ELITE's SX<> ) than I do for WASD or arrow keys.

Apple 2 was often az/,. .

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