why the alphabet in the computer keyboard have a random position?

Answer 1

they aren't set up in a random position. They are set up in the order that we use specific letters most, so that the most-used letters are in convenient positions.

Answer 2

They actually aren't random.

The position of the keys in a "qwerty" keyboard was actually
determined to be the easiest to type by studies done more than
a hundred years ago - based on letter frequency, strongest
fingers, etc.

Those studies were pretty flawed. There have been studies
since then that have come up with better layouts, but the
qwerty keyboard is so well ensconsed in the typing world
that there will need to a fundamental shift in technology to
replace it.

There is a dvorak keyboard which you can actually train
yourself to be faster than the qwerty keyboard - and it only
uses one hand (with multiple fingers for any given character).
This would allow your other hand to operate the mouse or
something else ... and its faster to enter data!

There are even companies out there that make them, but
everybody knows the qwerty keyboard and nobody wants
to re-learn to type.

A keyboard based on the alphabet, though obviously easy
to learn, would be pretty inefficient to type on.

Answer 3

Its not random. It was nessecity at the time.

The QWERTY layout is a fine example of a fossil. It is sometimes said that it was designed to slow down the typist, but this is wrong; it was designed to allow *faster* typing - under a constraint now long obsolete. In early typewriters, fast typing using nearby type-bars jammed the mechanism. So Sholes fiddled the layout to separate the letters of many common digraphs (he did a far from perfect job, though; "th", "tr", "ed", and "er", for example, each use two nearby keys). Also, putting the letters of "typewriter" on one line allowed it to be typed with particular speed and accuracy for demos. The jamming problem was essentially solved soon afterward by a suitable use of springs, but the keyboard layout lives on.

Answer 4

It is not random.

It was designed by Christopher Sholes in 1868. It is called the QWERTY design, based on the first letters on the top of the keyboard.

The layout was designed to make the letter bars on a typewriter for letters that are commonly next to each other in words, not next to each other. This minimized the chance of the type bars from getting stuck.

Also, it tries to alternate hands. As in, letters are spread so that as one hand types the other can move into positon for the next letter.

There are other keyboard designs. Most known is the Devoric.

Answer 5

The first typewriters were mechanical and the keys would stick. The randomness of the alphabet was actually created to slow down indivduals typing to prevent the "keys" from sticking

Answer 6

The answers are here in this article about the "QWERTY" arrangment on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qwerty

The word "QWERTY," of course, comes from the first six letters of the top line. And there was a rationale to the arrangement based on how typewriters were made. Other languages adapted the arrangement to deal with the same typewritter issues: namely, having the levers get tangled up.

Answer 7

Yes, they were changed in order to slow down typers on mechanical machines so the keys wouldn't get jammed together, but the specific order was picked in order to have the sales people be able to spell "typewriter" easily when they were selling these machines. Notice that you can spell "typewriter" just using the top row. If you couldn't type, but you can sell things, this makes it a lot easier to do.

Answer 8

They aren't random. They are choosen on a typewriter long ago. The little bars with the characters on them, had to be choosen so that they wouldn't get strangled up in often used character combinations. Even then, i always managed to get 'm strangled up...

All secretaresses learned typing blind on them. Since then, no keyboard manufacturer dares to change the layout.

Answer 9

Its actually not random. They are designed based on the old typewriter to easily reach the keys used most.

Answer 10

The keyboards on pc's were set up like the old typewriters.

Answer 11

They are styled after the qwerty keyboard of typewrites. I think it's styled that way to make it easier for the typist to use it.