Commodore 64 User Manual page 21

AND NOW:
TIME TO BEGIN!
The keyboard exercises in this chapter should
be done in the order in which they are pre
sented. Some exercises are intended to be
done as a group. If you are directed not to
clear the screen at the end of an exercise, you
should go on to do all the exercises in that
group before clearing the screen or turning off
the computer. At other places, you will be
directed to clear the screen at the end of an
exercise. These are the best places for you to
take a break or to turn off the computer and
stop for the day.
If you aren't sitting in front of your computer,
go over to it now. Then, turn on your com
puter and TV so you can practice using the
keyboard.
CURSOR CONTROL KEYS:
MOVING EDITORS
Every time you turn on the computer and TV,
a sign-on message appears on the screen to
tell you that the computer is working. Notice
the small block of light that flashes on and off.
This block, known as the cursor, is your blink
ing "magic place marker." The cursor tells you
exactly where you are in the messages that
you send to or receive from your computer.
Whenever you type, the characters will appear
on the screen at the cursor position. The blink
ing cursor will always be your guide, showing
what your computer has understood.
The CURSOR LEFT/RIGHT key and the
CURSOR UP/DOWN key can move the cursor
on the screen to any position you want. If
there is a letter or number anywhere on the
screen, the cursor just passes over it, without
disturbing a thing. If you let the cursor rest on
a letter already on the screen, that letter will
also blink on and off, just like the cursor does.
If you want to change the blinking letter to
another letter, you can, just by pressing the
new letter. Instantly, the old letter will be
replaced by the new one.
NOTE: When you use the cursor movement
keys, you will also use either of the SHIFT
keys, located on both sides of the keyboard.
Just as with a typewriter keyboard, the SHIFT
key, when used with any key that has two
symbols on its face, performs the function on
the upper part of the face. When pressed by
themselves, the SHIFT keys do nothing at all.
You will learn more about the SHIFT keys later
in this chapter. But for now, learn to use SHIFT
with the cursor movement keys as you try
these exercises.
This sign-on message appears when you
turn on the 64 computer.
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