Upper Casing in Writing

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Upper Casing in Writing

In writing, upper casing is the use of letters that are bigger and taller than their lower counterparts.upper casing Upper-case letters are also sometimes referred to as caps or majuscules. Many computer programming languages allow for automatic conversion of text from lower-case to upper-case with a single click or keystroke. In some of these programs, the process is called start case, initial caps, or proper case; in others, it is known as Title Case (actually a simplified variant of capitalization).

Some writers, particularly those who write for publication in print or online, prefer to use upper case only when it makes sense, such as when they are listing specific technical details or the first letter of a phrase or sentence.upper casing Other authors, however, prefer to use upper case throughout their works, including even in casual correspondence or in nonfiction books.

The convention of using upper case for so-called proper nouns, like people's names (such as Ruth Bader Ginsberg), places (such as Saskatchewan), and formal titles (such as doctor or professor) is widely accepted in most English-speaking countries.upper casing Other types of words, such as the first word in a sentence or the first letter of an acronym, are typically written in capitals, too, to make them stand out more.

Similarly, many command line commands in operating systems such as Linux are typed in upper case to distinguish them from lower-case alphabetic characters like ls, which lists files.upper casing In some earlier programming languages, such as FORTRAN, keywords and data object names were required to be in upper case because punch card machines didn't support a Shift key.

Other languages, such as the Latin alphabet used in most European countries, have both upper and lower-case forms of the same letter.upper casing The earliest Roman numerals were in lower case, but as they evolved into Arabic numbers in the 7th century, they were moved to upper case. In the same way, Greek letters were changed to upper case in medieval times, but minuscules were retained for everyday use and majuscules for formal documents and books.

Conventional wisdom, supported by some evidence and logic within the fields of typography and cognitive science, is that text set in mixed upper and lower case is more legible than all upper case. This is generally attributed to the fact that upper-case letters have no ascenders or descenders, while lower-case letters have both. Thus, the shapes of words constructed with mixed case appear more distinctive than those constructed with all upper case, making them easier to read.

Other studies, however, have shown no significant difference in reading speed between text presented in all upper case and mixed case. The results of these studies may be influenced by other factors, such as the font size and typography used, as well as the intended audience for the text. In any case, the choice of whether to use all upper or lower case should be based on extensive user research to understand what type of formatting is most appropriate for the content and format of the text.

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