weird phrase “slash q-z” what does it means and why?

Question

Hi guys, I was recently browsing some quotes out of boredom, and saw one said by Jobs:

“The manual for WordStar, the most popular word-processing program, is 400 pages thick. To write a novel, you have to read a novel – one that reads like a mystery to most people. They’re not going to learn slash q-z any more than they’re going to learn Morse code. That is what Macintosh is all about.”

I can understand the meaning behind it but got curious about the phrase “slash q-z” as it seems not to be a common word and cannot find much about it on Google.

Edit: thanks for all the wonderful answers guys, it’s really interesting to look back see how far we’ve come from.

In: 412

Answer 1

In the old days, people didn’t have mice, just keyboards.

So programs used key combinations or key sequences to do things. People would read the paper manual, and have a quick reference card next to their computer full of the most common key combinations. (You couldn’t fit every command on an A4 / US Letter sized card, though sometimes people had larger references).

Some programs, like the text editor VIM, had a command line to let you type in commands. For example, the “:” key to start a command, then “q!” and press return to quit without saving. (I don’t know any other Vim commands, that’s the one command that everyone needed to know in case they ended up in Vim by accident).

Some programs, like the early spreadsheet “Lotus 1-2-3”, used the slash key (/) to bring up a menu. This would give you a list of commands, with a key for each. In modern Excel you might click on the File menu and click Exit. In 1-2-3 you might press / to bring up the main menu, then press F for the File menu and Q to Quit. (It’s been a long time since I used 1-2-3, so I remember the slash key but forget what the menu items were).

There were no standards for how the user interface works, the industry was experimenting trying to find the best way to do it.

I didn’t use WordStar, but it would have been vaguely similar to the others I’ve mentioned, while being completely different in all the details.