About Calcutype

Calcutype, version 0.96
Written 2008-2009 by William Condon, with Dr. Gary Bishop (Email: gb@cs.unc.edu)
Note: JavaScript must be enabled to use this program!
This program is still under development... any feedback will be greatly appreciated!

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Getting Started

You should probably begin at the options page, which lets you set certain features before beginning. You only need to visit the options page once - afterwards, you can bookmark that particular version of the typer in your browser's bookmarks list. From the options page, you can proceed to either fill out an existing form or write your own document. Unfortunately, only plain text is supported at the moment - that is, no italics, bold face, or different text sizes.

To proceed directly to the program with default settings, click here to fill out an existing form or write your own document.

SUPPORTED BROWSERS: CalcuType is known to work in Firefox 3.0.4 and Internet Explorer 7. The new document version also seems to work in Epiphany (version not known), and Google Chrome 1.0.154.46. However, we strongly recommend that (if possible) you get the free Firefox web browser.


Typing

Every key on the keyboard works as normal, except for three keys I had to disable to support the virtual keyboard. That is, if you're able to use a keyboard normally, you may. Alternatively, every letter and digit, the normal four operators ("+", "-", "*", "/"), the equals sign, the carriage return, and many other symbols are in the virtual keyboard.

Default Values of Special Keys.
(All special keys can be reset on the options page.)
] Advances between rows or symbols on the virtual keyboard.
[ Selects the highlighted row or column on the virtual keyboard.
  • When you either select a letter/symbol or pass through a row four times without selecting any letter or symbol, the virtual keyboard resets to the default unselected state.
\ Automatically makes the first word in memory show up at the cursor's location in the text.
This key is OPTIONAL. You can also select any word in memory normally, just like anything else on the virtual keyboard.
  • Capitalization will be the same as you typed.
  • If hit repeatedly, it will cycle through each word in memory.
  • Except for math equations, it will overwrite any part of the word you began typing.

Also, clicking on any key in the virtual keyboard is equivalent to selecting it with the special keys.


Word Completion

Word completion is still in a fairly primitive state right now. We're riding off a list of the 10000 most commonly used words in the Project Gutenberg electronic books, taken from Wiktionary. To this is added a list of the 570 word families which were selected because they appear with great frequency in a broad range of academic texts, also taken from Wictionary. Basically, the program automatically puts into memory the first three words in the list whose first letters match what you're typing.

You can tell CalcuType to automatically suggest a certain word whenever you type an abbreviation. For example, to have CalcuType suggest English whenever you type en, type:
en="English"

Click here to add your own words to the word list. (CalcuType must be downloaded to your local computer to use this feature.)


Math Support

Whenever you type a valid mathematical expression, the program will automatically put into memory the answer. For example, if you type 3+4, the first memory slot will read =7. It supports anything that JavaScript supports:


Special Symbols

π
  • The Greek letter pi.
  • The ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter.
  • Approximately
tabAdvance the cursor to the next box in the form.
openLoad a new form.
backspaceBackspace. (Deletes the last letter you typed.)
backspace one wordBackspace through word. (Deletes everything between the cursor and the last space before the cursor.)
carriage returnCarriage return. (Equivalent to pressing 'enter' in a normal text editor.)
retreat one letterMoves the cursor backward one letter.
advance one letterMoves the cursor forward one letter.
retreat one wordMoves the cursor backward one word.
advance one wordMoves the cursor forward one word.
capTurns caps lock on or off.
When caps lock is on, the virtual keyboard types capital letters; when caps lock is off, it types lowercase letters.
shiftThe 'shift' key, with 'sticky keys' turned on. The next letter pressed on the virtual keyboard after pressing this will be a capital letter.
[storeStores the last word before the cursor in memory (that is, stores everything between the cursor and the last space before the cursor).
saveCopies what you've written into a new file, ready to be saved on your local computer.
You must be connected to the Web to use this.

Copying

We'd love for you to use this code, or any part of it, in any way you want. Please help us help people! Of course, we'd appreciate if you let us know and allow other people to do the same with your code, but we aren't forcing you to do that.

To download CalcuType to your computer, including source code, please go to our project's page on Google Code. Have fun!