Comment Return vs Enter (Score 1) 62
Back in the "old days" computing power was mainly available on mainframes and miniframes. Applications were built where displays were just forms rendered off terminals. The terminals had some smarts and after each form was filled in the Enter (Submit, etc.) key was pressed so the values were sent to the "real" computer so either the next forms could be rendered or the output could be calculated/printed. This form was rendered in what was typically called block mode. There is no communication with the computer until the Enter key was pressed. Pressing Return would just bring the cursor to the beginning of the line where the cursor was. After the application exits, the terminal was brought back to interactive mode where OS commands could be used completed using the Return key. I guess for these classes of computers, compute was really scarce and the use of block mode allowed people to use the computer with minimal sluggishness.
The WWW did the same thing when the first sites used Submit buttons.
When I first worked on an HP3000 I was asked to do some stuff in an application on an HP 2645A terminal. I was told what to do and I just kinda assumed "then press the Enter key" meant pressing the Return key. After a while later I went for help and I was told I pressed the wrong key.
The HP3000 with terminals weren't anything like my Apple II. The default editor was a line editor like UNIX's ed. There was a 3rd-party editor that kinda worked like vi but still clunky compared to my Apple II/UNIX vi because it made use of block mode.
