I've been trying out APL. I'm running Windows 10 and I've installed Dyalog 18.0, and the APL Language and APL Backtick Symbols extentions for VS Code.
But even though I'm not running any of these programs, sometimes suddenly my keyboard is hyjacked! All my ctrl commands are replaced by APL symbols.
E.g. ctrl-Z (undo) becomes ⊂ and ctrl-A (select all) becomes ⍺. I have no idea why and how to disable this again. This makes it very hard to do my work!!!
I've been googling for this, but haven't found an answer so far. I've looked at the Windows keyboard settings, but it looks normal. The locale settings are also correct.
I'm now just de-installing everything, but that way I need to reinstall every time I want to try out APL.
Can somebody tell me what is happening and how to fix it? (And tell me who to complain to that this is a very hostile feature)
I am sorry that our Unicode IME is causing you confusion.
I do like using it, but there are some Windows settings which I set to make things easier.
Start button->Settings
In the "Find a setting" edit field, type Advanced keyboard settings
Click on the icon with that text on it
Under Switching input methods:
Tick the “Let me set a different input method for each app window”
Tick the "Use the desktop language bar when it's available". This option will show the orange D icon when our Dyalog Unicode IME is active.
On this same dialog, there is a Input language hot keys.
I find it convenient to select a hot key combination to activate our Unicode IME, and another one to go back to the default Windows keyboard layout.
Close this dialog with the X button in the top right.
If you have further problems or questions, you can always ask us at support#dyalog.com
By the way, we put links to advice pages about keyboards on our website under Resources->Fonts and Keyboards.
Regards,
Vince
When installing the standard Dyalog IME, there is a new keyboard input method on Windows. Have you checked WinKey+Space? This should cycle through available keyboard layouts and you should find your previous/default layout available there.
I personally agree that this is not a good way to handle keyboarding and causes many issues for newcomers to APL. Dyalog is aware and are looking into alternatives that can be comfortable for both new and existing users.
You can uninstall the standard IME without uninstalling the entire interpreter by running the Dyalog uninstaller (search "uninstall Dyalog" in your start menu) and selecting just the IME.
For now, I recommend the APL Wiki article on Typing Glyphs for some ideas for alternatives to the standard IME: https://aplwiki.com/wiki/Typing_glyphs#Windows
I personally use the abrudz keyboard with Alt Gr as the switching key.
I just wanted to add that your complaint has reached the people who need to be complained to. This is a difficult problem space, between changing technologies, multiple platforms, new or casual users of APL and the folks who use APL all the time and want to type APL symbols into e-mail messages, etc. It is most definitely time for an overhaul of the keyboard technologies that we use and this will be on the to do list for the next development cycle. Until then, I hope you manage to get by with the advice that has been offered so far!
Thanks for the shout,
Morten Kromberg, CTO, Dyalog
Related
For the most part I very much like Qt Creator, but a few projects I'm working on require me to switch between my editor and my web browser for reference. Qt Creator is currently interpreting Alt+Tab to autocomplete, and then switching my window focus; this is a mild problem but it's really starting to get to me.
I've tried going to Tools→Options→Keyboard and searching for Alt+Tab, but found nothing. Is there a way to get it to selectively ignore the key combination without disabling autocomplete on the whole?
To complete the picture, I'm on Linux Mint 19.04 using XFCE desktop environment; or occasionally Maté. If I need to access something in system settings to do this I'm happy to; I just don't want to keep excessively second-guessing my code when I return to it.
Auto-complete is bound to Ctrl+Space by default, not Alt+Tab. In tools/options/keyboard, search for "CompleteThis" to see what it's bound to.
Maybe what you want is to disable auto-complete and use only manual-complete? That is, have the auto-complete list only show when you press ctrl+space, but never automatically. You can do that in options/text editor/completion.
I am using Visual Studio Code with English keyboard layout switched in Windows when programming, but when I am using my computer for general use I use Slovak keyboard layout. Sometimes it can get ridiculous when I switch from one to another multiple times in one minute. Is there a setting (or a plugin) that could set the keyboard layout in VS Code to English while Windows layout is still set to Slovak?
I will summarize for you the solution to this, hope it is still helpful for you or any other looking for this answer:
you have to press Ctrl+Alt+P
then in the display that will appear at the top, write the language you want in case it does not appear
once this is done, VSC will ask you to restart.
once restarted is done it should be fine.
It is the way to do it without changing windows configuration as you will see in ther similar posts.
Hope it helps
I recently obtained a personal licence for Dyalog APL and started using it (I'm switching over from APLX). I really like it, but whenever I'm not using the IDE, the APL symbol keybindings persist. For example, if I try to undo something in another application by hitting CTRL-Z, I'll instead get ⊂ and the undo will not go through. Similarly, attempting to use CTRL-S to save a document will result in me typing ⌈ instead of saving. The only way I've been able to resolve this is by restarting my computer.
How can I disable APL symbol input after the IDE is either not in focus or has been closed? If there's no way to do that, is it possible to map the symbol shortcut to ALT instead of CTRL? ALT is used far less often than CTRL for shortcuts, so I could live with that.
I'm using Windows 8.1 64 bit and the 64 bit version of Dyalog APL with a US keyboard.
If you want to use AltGr (right side Alt) to enter APL symbols while keeping a normal US layout or an almost normal UK layout, you can use my keyboard layout instead of the IDE. This avoids almost all clashes with other applications, so you can keep the keyboard active at all times and forget about mode switching.
Dyalog uses a standard Windows mechanism called "IME" (Input Method Editor) to enable input of APL-Characters. The advantage is that this enables you to use APL-Symbols anywhere - but obviously there is a 2nd side to that.
The "challenge" in your setup is only to change the IME back from APL to regular text-mode and this does not need a reboot. Pls check this article for more info on IME: https://www.google.de/amp/www.thewindowsclub.com/input-method-editors-windows/amp
(Sorry, I'm using W10, so I rather refer you to that article than giving wrong info... BTW, the advantage of W10 is that the IME will be default work in application-mode, so you can go to WinWord there and use default hotkeys w/o switching IME.)
Edit: For those using W10 (and probably W11) that article is out of date. The Languages settings are no longer in the Control Panel and are now in Settings. Go to Time and Language>Keyboard>"Input language hot keys" and change the Key sequence for "Between input languages". The "Switch Keyboard Layout" shortcut will be the one that toggles between keyboard layouts (I have Shift+LeftAlt toggling between Dyalog and US). You can also see which keyboard you are using on the taskbar by adjusting "Language bar options" on the same Settings page.
I have used Emacs for a long time, say, 6 or 7 years. And it seems that I got Emacs Pinky somehow. Now I am trying to switch to vim, and it's a very good editor, just like Emacs, except that I wonder how you guys develop with it.
Using Emacs with a buffer running shell, I code, compile, debug, profile or do anything. But vim is just an editor. I still don't know how to quick edit in command mode, where everything go back to stone age. Should I use other tools, like screen, as the environment, and vim just the editor?
FYI, I mainly work on Windows.
For those Emacs users wishing to have a Vim experience in terms of keyboard shortcuts and certain functions specifically designed to duplicate Vim behavior, the original poster may wish to consider using evil-mode:
http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/Evil
In addition, the user may wish to configure his/her own keyboard shortcuts that make more sense based upon any physical limitations (e.g., pain in certain digits, etc.).
Finally, there is no requirement that a user keep his/her hands on the home row and stretch for the control/alt/command keys with a pinky. It is possible to type 100 words per minute or faster, hit keyboard shortcuts using two hands away from home row, and return to the home row blindfolded.
I like putting shortcuts of the form "g - google.lnk" in my start menu so google is two keystrokes away. Win, g.
My eight or so most frequent applications go there.
I also make links to my solution files I am always opening "x - Popular Project.lnk"
Are there any better ways to automate opening frequently used applications?
AutoHotkey is a reasonably good program for implementing windows key shortcuts. You might instead define WIN + G to be "open browser to google" which gives you a better response time (don't have to wait for start menu to popup, etc)
There are macro programs that change the macros used based on the window that's in focus. I've never needed that much control, but you might want to look into that.
-Adam
Get a keyboard launcher program like Launchy
For shortcuts I use Launchy
For macros I use AutoHotKey
Others will suggest SlickRun for shortcuts also.
I use a lot the "intellisense" snippets in Visual Studio. You can include your own snippets and press double tab when they appear in the list. That's definitely a time saver.
I use QuickMacros and love it.
so much so, that I did some extensive training articles on it here.
The holy grail-
Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V
I kid, I kid! Try the veal!