Why Carets?
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Why is it called a caret? NP++ is the only place I have ever seen this usage and I have been writing and using software since 1967. The whole world has called it a cursor or pointer at least since Xerox PARC commercialised the mouse in the 1980’s. A caret is a mark used by writers to indicate a missing word or words in a line of text. It looks like a circumflex (chapeau) but is placed below the line at the point where the extra text is to be inserted.
NP++ authors/users, please desist.
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This actually came up within the last year or so, as inconsistent usage both in the software and in the user manual.
That is, “caret” and “cursor” had mixed usage in the UI, and the user manual used the two terms within itself.
The usage is now consistent and correct. I won’t bother to explain it to you in detail, as I don’t think you’d be satisfied after I took the time to do so.
Something to think about: If in N++ there is only such a thing as a “cursor” and not a “caret” (following your definition for caret), then how can I see an image dancing around as I shake the mouse within the N++ window, and at the same time see a blinking and non-moving indication of the current position in my document (where text will be inserted if I type)? If they are both “cursors” then how can one refer to either one without ambiguity?
Harumph, I typed more than I wanted. :-(. I should’ve gone with the short and sweet “YOU’RE WRONG”.
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You have a very good point about there beig two things - one showing the current text insertion point and the other showing the current mouse position. I had not considered that; thank you.
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Also, Notepad++ is not unique in this terminology:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caret_(disambiguation)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cursor_(user_interface)#Text_cursor
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caret_navigation -
@PeterJones ,
And to add to that, there is the database use of a cursor.
What is a Database Cursor?Just to point out that many of our older archaic uses of terminology when everything was analog (as in copywriting/editing) and not digital (computer cursor) things have changed, but the base concepts still apply. What one language also, uses, changes in other languages. :-)
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According to Encyclopedia MDPI
The caret was originally and continues to be used in handwritten form as a proofreading mark to indicate where a punctuation mark, word, or phrase should be inserted into a document.[1] The term comes from the Latin caret, “it lacks”, from carēre, “to lack; to be separated from; to be free from”