racket / racket/drracket

On Windows, Alt + Backspace instead of Ctrl + Backspace is incorrectly bound to delete the full word

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Racket
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Description

Windows uses CtrlBackspace to delete the full preceding word. On macOS, this is AltBackspace. However, the Windows version of DrRacket seems to be using the macOS keybinding for this command, because CtrlBackspace does not work (it only deletes the single preceding character) while AltBackspace does work, even though this is against convention for text entry on Windows (that shortcut should do nothing at all on Windows).

In order to be an efficient typist while programming, I fully expect the standard text-related keyboard mappings should work in any text editor on the operating system. DrRacket should not be changing this mapping, and it makes it very frustrating to do even the simplest task of writing text in the software because the environment is constantly behaving contrary to expectations.

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reproducing the keyboard behavior in the Windows version of DrRacket and locate the text-entry keyboard binding handling. Verify the current Ctrl+Backspace and Alt+Backspace behavior, then confirm that the Windows convention is restored without changing the macOS behavior.

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Assessment

Domain
desktop, operating-systems
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
45/100

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