> From: Lex Spoon [mailto:lex at cc.gatech.edu] 
> 127 is actually the correct
> mapping for backspace.  8 is the misconfiguration.  So the 
> correct thing
> to do is to map X's 127 to Squeak's 8.  Now, delete doesn't 
> even have an
> ASCII character at all.  So you might as well let 8 also map to 8.
> 
> Now do you think you can actually convince someone that 127 is correct
> for backspace, to reconfigure their "misconfigured" system?

Er... no.  Especially as the ASCII charts mark character code 8 as 'BS'
(shorthand for 'Backspace') and 127 as 'DEL' (shorthand for 'Delete').  As
an old VT100 user, I expect the backspace key to map to 8 (alias for Ctrl-H)
and the delete key to map to 127 (alias for Ctrl-? IIRC).  Certainly I
expect them to do different things.  I have no wish to make space on my
keyboard for two keys that do the same thing!

However, *neither* of those characters in the ASCII standard had the meaning
now attributed to them.  BS, I believe, was a non-deleting space allowing
composite characters to be built (eg. " BS o for o-umlaut).  DEL meant, back
in my paper tape days, that the character *itself* had been deleted and
punched to all-1s as a result; the ultimate in-place edit.

		- Peter