printable-characters | little helper for handling strings | Data Manipulation library

The original IBM PC Model M keyboard contained an Intel 8049 microcontoller which scanned a wiring matrix of keyboard switches. The scan result was sent as a numeric code to the connected PC using serial communication. The job of interpreting the label of the particular key pressed was left to the operating system. The which value of keyboard event objects is the numeric value received from the keyboard controller chip. Since ASCII doesn't have encodings for arrow and function keys et cetera, which was never intended as an ASCII value.

In modern browsers, the keyboard event key property usually holds the Unicode string value of a key press determined by converting the key matrix scan result to a Unicode code point based on the keyboard language selected by the PC user, or a description of the key pressed if it not printable.