what was the original purpose of the curly braces {}?

it seems to me these are only ever used when you are writing code. was there a purpose for { and } before computers and programming languages?

what about [], |, \, and ` ? All those characters seem to only be used in programming, except for [] .. i've seen that used occasionally outside of coding.

if there was a purpose for those characters before computing, when was the use of them appropriate?

 

In ancient times there was this strange device caledl a typewriter that only writers and secretaries were allowed to operate



Hotwater

 

I do believe some of those could be used for parenthesis inside parenthesis.

 

but what about the bar | character, was that even on a typewriter? is there any other purpose for it outside of computing? i haven't actually seen a typewriter in a long time so idk if it was even on typewriters or not.

on really old computer keyboards the "|" key was where the left CTRL key is on most modern keyboards, and the left CTRL was where the Caps Lock key is .. the Caps Lock key was of course where the | key is now. This is actually better for coding cuz its easier to hit, because the | is a bit of a stretch on the modern layout, especially if you have small hands like me .. i rarely use the Caps Lock key it actually makes more sense to me the way it used to be. It seems pretty obvious that much more programming/command line shell shit was done back in the 1980s on computer keyboards versus word processing.

 

I don't know the meaning of most computer symbols.....why things need to become more complicated in this technological world, I will never understand.....
Just like with coding and numbers....seems a way for some to try to control everything in the universe.....devil's work?....or to put everything into some neat little package formula....
It cannot be done, as Einstein found out in his later years. It drove him mad. The universe is not a mathematical equation, as subatomical particles or god particles will ALWAYS demonstrate...They will continue to thumb their noses at everything and go their merry ways.

 

i feel like i remember using all those in math. mostly for stacked parentheses, although there may have been other uses i've forgotten. the bar is useful when making flyers and stuff, and i think it was also used in math for absolute values. and i think [] is (or at least used to be) the standard symbol when quoting someone and substituting a word for clarity, like if somebody says "he did it" and the author needs to specify who "he" is so he would type "[john] did it."

 

integrals and functions in math. though i don't know if that was their origen. i believe they may have been used by scribes before those higher math functions were discovered.

possibly for organizing or naming lists. that would be my guess as to their pre-higher math function.

 

Absolute value.