Carl's Speech on the "Keyboard"

Imagine this: You have a project due the next day. So, you write it up and turn it in. It was quite good, but you have a problem. You have handwriting impossible to read. So, you get a suggestion: It is that you type it up on the computer. You decide that advice is good, and you try it. But when you try this you have another problem: you are so slow; you can’t get it in before you’re due. This is why it is important to learn how to quickly type on the computer. When you see a computer do you think about how it revolutionized communication, and how it has changed the modern world, by making it easy for almost anyone to print any thing almost anytime? Do you think of its popularity, and how 78% of households had a computer, and 55% of households had internet connection in 2003 according to U.S. census. And do you think about how, that may not have happened without a bunch of keys, strung together to make a keyboard, an item with more history than most items.
So, what is the most common keyboard? Well, the most popular keyboard for the computer is the QWERTY keyboard. So what is the QWERTY keyboard? Well, if you have a computer, it most likely has a QWERTY key board. To check, you can look at the top row’s first six letters. If they are Q, W, E, R, T, and Y, you have a QWERTY keyboard.
The QWERTY keyboard layout was devised and created in the 1860s by Christopher Sholes, the creator of the first modern typewriter. The characters on the typewriters he invented were originally in alphabetical order, set on the end of a metal bar which struck the paper when its key was pressed. Once an operator had learned to type at speed, however, the bars lying close together would entangle, and cause the typist to have to unstick the bars and likely splotch the document. One of Sholes’ business associate, James Densmore, suggested splitting up keys for letters commonly used together to speed up typing by preventing common pairs of type bars from striking the platen at the same time. The result: The QWERTY keyboard.
Unfortunately for right-handed typists, many more words can be spelled using only the left hand, than only using the right hand. Thousands of words can be spelled using only the left hand; while only around 200 words can be typed using only the right hand.
Though the QWERTY key board may be the most popular keyboard, that doesn’t mean it’s the only keyboard. Many other keyboards have been patented. One of the more popular ones of these, is the Dvorak keyboard. It was patented in 1936 by Dr. August Dvorak and William Dealey as an alternative to the QWERTY keyboard. Using only the letters on the home row, the Dvorak keyboard provides for an estimated 3,000 words. The world record for typing speed, by Barbara Blackburn, who can maintain 150 wpm for 50 min and attains a speed of 170 wpm using the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard (DSK) system, was made on a Dvorak keyboard. In the year 1984, the Dvorak layout had an estimated 100,000 users. Besides the Dvorak layout, there are many other newer alternative keyboard layouts, but those layouts haven’t gained widespread use.
Other countries also have different keyboards. The QWERTY keyboard was made for the English language, a language without accent marks. However, many other languages do have accent marks, so almost every major language has its own keyboard. On Microsoft Windows, all characters are useable using the ALT key plus a number. Unfortunately this is on Windows, and not on any other operating system. More downsides are that it requires memorizing the character codes, using a Character Map, or having a table of the codes on-hand, and also that a four-key combination can be extremely time-consuming. Especially when it’s needed to use frequently used characters. The system also needs to have a separate numeric keypad, and, therefore, requires the "Function" key to be held down on most notebooks.
Belgian and French keyboards are known as AZERTY keyboards. They switch Q with A and Z with W and move M to the right of L. The digits 0 to 9 need the shift key to be typed, but are on the same keys. Accented lowercase characters are on the non-shifted keys. Many symbols are in different locations on the AZERTY. The French Canadian layout, however, is a QWERTY layout.
Others include the Czech QWERTZ, and the German QWERTZ, the Hungarian, The Danish and Norwegian, Faroese, Icelandic, and the Italian keyboards, the Lithuanian ĄŽERTY, the Norwegian, the Portuguese, the Romanian, the Spanish, and the Turkish keyboards.
One thing that Americans take advantage of is being able to store a document on their computer, and then reprint it as many times as they like (though this may cause a high paper and ink bill). From the 1900s, through the 1950s, punched cards were the primary thing for entering and storing data, and processing in institutional computing. During the 1960s, however, the punched cards was slowly being replaced as the primary means for data storage by magnetic tapes, as better computers became available. Punched cards were still usually used for data entry and also for programming until the around the mid-1970s, when the less expensive magnetic disk storage, and interactive terminals on cheaper minicomputers made punched cards rarely used for this role as well. Punched cards are hardly ever used today.
One reason to learn how to quickly type on the computer, is that you can easily, and quickly, write a document neatly, and be able to store it and re-print it if necessary. Storing things on the computer can also make things easier to find.
If you’re an adult, you probably get more E-mail then Mail. Here is another reason to learn how to quickly type on the computer: Not only is it good for school and the office, but also it also is good for communication.
Keyboards have a history of their own. There are many of them, but what ever language you may speak, it’s important to learn how to quickly type on the keyboard.

This is my speach. If you find any kind of grammar mistake or other problem, feel free to tell! ☺☻