Dec 24, 2023 15:00:00

Why did older computers and operating systems use uppercase letters instead of lowercase letters?

by

pilot_micha

Today's computer programs sometimes require lowercase and uppercase letters to be entered, but when computers were first introduced, all uppercase letters were used for program input. Various users have provided explanations as to why.

graphics - Why did older computers and OSes use UPPER case instead of lower case? - Retrocomputing Stack Exchange
https://retrocomputing.stackexchange.com/questions/28141/why-did-older-computers-and-oses-use-upper-case-instead-of-lower-case

On the IT Q&A community Stack Overflow, a user named manassehkatz-Moving 2 Codidact said, ``In the past, computers had memory constraints that did not allow for room for both uppercase and lowercase letters when entering text. So why were uppercase letters used and lowercase letters not?'' he asked.

manassehkatz-Moving 2 Various users shared their own answers to this question by Codidact. A user named Raffzahn explains that ``The code was designed based on

the Latin alphabet , which basically uses only uppercase letters.''

According to Raffzahn, writing in lowercase and uppercase letters separately is a device to make it easier for humans to read, and there is not much practical meaning. Mr. Raffzahn points out the advantages of using capital letters: ``Capital letters have been used throughout Europe for a long time and can be understood even if cultures and writing styles differ,'' and ``Unlike output on modern displays or printing from printers, they are less readable.'' It says that even with low-quality output, uppercase letters are easy to read, and that some people may be uncomfortable with sentences written in all lowercase letters.

Rafzahn also mentions the '

punch cards ' used in early computers. In the early stages of development of punch cards, only numbers could be used, but after that, decimal points and currency symbols became available, and it was the last time that characters became available. The first computer to use text was the Powers Accounting Machine in 1921, followed by IBM in 1931. The letters printed on punch cards at the time were all uppercase, and lowercase letters only became available in the mid-1960s.

A similar discussion is taking place on the online bulletin board Hacker News, and one user speculates that the reason why only uppercase letters were used is ``a holdover from the days of Morse code.'' This user said, ``The earliest computers were used to exchange military messages.At that time, operators had to manually transcribe codes such as Morse code received by the computer. It was customary to write in capital letters so that anyone could read it.' He also said , ``This practice has been in place since the 1850s, and it was only in 2013 that the U.S. Navy began inputting and outputting letters including lowercase letters.''

Regarding the use of only uppercase letters, another user said, ``If you use lowercase letters when copying Morse code by hand, mistakes may occur if you write sloppily, so write in uppercase letters that make it easier to understand the characteristics. became the standard. This tradition continued with things like teletype terminals and early computers until technology advanced to the point where both lowercase and uppercase letters could be entered.'