Changelog

2021-07-20, v0.0.2: Previously on Keykapp, Part I

There have been three Keykapp prototypes to date:

1. Keykapp React

• I first validated the biggest assumption: can it really be productive and easy to get good at typing in a predictive Huffman-tree based layout?
• The goal had always been to control the whole computer with Keykapp, starting by being able to emulate arbitrary keyboard input, but at the time I was mostly programming websites with Gatsby and React, and I followed the good advice of “start with the tools you know”. So Keykapp React was a PWA where you could type into an HTML text input.
• At the time I did take a cursory look at keyboard intercepting and emulating libraries and decided that, although feasible, there was a lot of uncertainty to how long it would take me given how much lower level and outside my comfort zone those things were. It was a good decision, as getting concrete evidence that the core ideas worked gave me the validation I needed to stay motivated and committed.
• I learned two things:
  • Huffman trees are awesome and typing only with the homerow (or however many buttons/switches you want, on whatever kind of device) is amazing once you get the hang of it. I tried it on desktop and mobile and it was sweet. Not being tethered to typing on a surface because of the mismatch between number of fingers and number of buttons is going to be so liberating. Can’t wait to use a full desktop environment on VR while typing on my thighs with a pair of electromyographic bracelets and lying on a hammock.
  • There is a tension between predictiveness and predictability. Predictive input helps you avoid repeating yourself. Predictable input helps you get better at repeating yourself. You need both. If the keyboard is 100% predictive and the meaning of each key changes with every keystroke you don’t get a chance to build muscle memory (“motor learning” in the literature), which is necessary because prediction isn’t perfect and sometimes you know exactly what you want to do. Predictability allows you to leverage the amazing internal programmer that your brain is, compiling motion instructions into progressively faster and more effortless habits. Built-in JIT compilation ftw. Fortunately this tension is easy to fix the same way as designers of smartphone virtual keyboards did: stack a predictive keyboard (the word suggestion row of buttons) on top of a static, predictable keyboard (the qwerty grid).
• Although Keykapp React was mostly about validating text entry, I also experimented with command prediction and it was very satisfying. So the next thing I wanted to do was validate the idea of having a full, keyboard-mapped, interactive, concatenative programming language to work with. That was Keykapp Min.

2. Keykapp Min

• I haven’t designed a programming language from scratch yet, and while I knew that it would be inevitable at some point, I wanted to have a basic “am I crazy to think this?” reality check as soon as possible.
• So I cheated and used Fabio Cevasco’s awesome min-lang. Min-lang is a homoiconic, “functional, concatenative programming language with a minimalist syntax” written in Nim. It’s elegant, modern, and has great documentation.
• The Keykapp Min prototype was just a userspace mod to the min-lang terminal-based REPL that added stack visualization, ngram prediction, and direct, dynamic keyboard mapping of “words” (functions) to homerow buttons.
• It doesn’t look like much to the naked eye, but a source I highly respect told me that “it’s pretty damn perfect” and that was worth a lot. Using it feels great, like you’re actually manipulating data directly instead of planning in advance what the computer should do once it gets to it. I call it “JIT computing”: Don’t ask to do, just do.
• Conclusion: there’s a ton that needs to be done in terms of language usability and security when thinking about Keykapp’s interactive and shareable context, but the basic idea does make sense, concatenatives does seem to be an ideal base paradigm, and this is totally worth pursuing.

2021-07-19, v0.0.1: Hello, worlds!

Going to start a very low-key microblog / tumblelog here on this page. No RSS or anything, just some notes and links, stacked on a single file.