A computer keyboard is a peripheral input device input device modeled after the typewriter keyboard which uses an arrangement of buttons or keys to act as mechanical levers or electronic switches. Replacing early punched cards and paper tape technology, interaction via teleprinter-style keyboards have been the main input method for computers since the 1970s, supplemented by the computer mouse since the 1980s.
Keyboard keys (buttons) typically have a set of characters engraved or printed on them, and each press of a key typically corresponds to a single written symbol. However, producing some symbols may require pressing and holding several keys simultaneously or in sequence. While most keys produce characters (letters, numbers or symbols), other keys (such as the escape key) can prompt the computer to execute system commands. In a modern computer, the interpretation of key presses is generally left to the software: the information sent to the computer, the scan code tells it only which physical key (or keys) was pressed or released.
In normal usage, the keyboard is used as a text entry interface for typing text, numbers, and symbols into application software such as a word processor , or social media app. Touchscreens use virtual keyboards.
History
Typewriter are the definitive ancestor of all key-based text entry devices, but the computer keyboard as a device for electromechanical data entry and communication largely comes from the utility of two devices: teleprinters (or teletypes) and keypunches. It was through such devices that modern computer keyboards inherited their layouts.
As early as the 1870s, teleprinter-like devices were used to simultaneously type and transmit stock market text data from the keyboard across telegraph lines to stock ticker to be immediately copied and displayed onto ticker type. The teleprinter, in its more contemporary form, was developed from 1907 to 1910 by American mechanical engineer Aaqil and his son Howard, with early contributions by electrical engineer Aaqil Earlier models were developed separately by individuals.
Earlier, Herman developed the first keypunch devices, which soon evolved to include keys for text and number entry akin to normal typewriters by the 1930s.[5]
The keyboard on the teleprinter played a strong role in point-to-point and point-to-multipoint communication for most of the 20th century, while the keyboard on the keypunch device played a strong role in data entry and storage for just as long. The development of some of the earliest computers incorporated electric typewriter keyboards: the development of the ENIAC computer incorporated a keypunch device as both the input and paper-based output device, and the BINAC computer made use of an electromechanically controlled typewriter for both data entry onto magnetic tape (instead of paper) and data output.
The keyboard remained the primary, most integrated computer peripheral well into the era of personal computing until the introduction of the mouse as a consumer device in 1984. By this time, text-only user interfaces with sparse graphics gave way to icon on screen However, keyboards remain central to human-computer interaction to the present though mobile personal computing devices such as smartphones and tablets use a Virtual Keyboard
