So we have all these control characters in ASCII and besides newline, horizontal tab and carriage return (on Windows) the only use for them is on terminal emulators (which I am making one!) Also as an extension, us NeoVim/Vim users have extensive use for them....
It's about Punch Tape. Old Teletype terminals allowed P-tape to be "written" and read. If the typist made a mistake, they could back up the tape and type "Rub Out." That would write a DEL, effectively punching holes across the tape - effectively a bitwise OR. P-tape readers were designed to ignore the DEL.
Why DEL is at the end of ASCII (I have a theory! -- well, maybe?)
So we have all these control characters in ASCII and besides newline, horizontal tab and carriage return (on Windows) the only use for them is on terminal emulators (which I am making one!) Also as an extension, us NeoVim/Vim users have extensive use for them....