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Subject:terminology question: pointer vs. cursor From:"Mark L. Levinson" <markl -at- gilian -dot- com> To:justin -dot- kelley -at- revit -dot- com Date:Thu, 25 May 2000 12:21:51 +0200
Most of us, as we use the computer, both point
and curse.
Before PCs, the word "cursor" (from the Latin for
running) applied to the hairline that gave you
the answer on a slide rule. That cursor ran back and
forth horizontally, and so does the cursor on a
computer screen.
The cursor's wider-roving sibling, the
pointer, is indeed a different thing,
but I'm not sure that the population
at large has noticed the difference. There
don't seem to be many situations where a user
would say "Oh, you want me to move the cursor?
I thought you wanted me to move the pointer."
But while perhaps no one will be confused by
a merging of the names, no one will be confused
by a distinguishing between them either, and I
think it's a good thing to preserve distinctions,
lest when some day they are needed, they be extinct.
Mark L. Levinson
Herzlia, Israel
MarkL -at- Gilian -dot- com
