It’s the vertical line that blinks in text boxes and documents when you edit. Other than that I don’t know much about it.

    • bstix@feddit.dk
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      9 months ago

      Yes , the link I provided also explains the etymology of “mouse”. In short, the invention of a free moving cursor was initially called a “bug”, but since the caret cursor was also called a “cat” they called it mouse. The first mouse pointers were operated by trackballs, so the physical device didn’t resemble a mouse until later.

          • Executive Chimp@discuss.tchncs.de
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            0
            ·
            9 months ago

            The subject in question is a “caret”. It’s also known by the more generic word cursor (or slightly more specific “text cursor”) but seeing as there’s a specific word for the item in question it makes sense to use that, even if both are appropriate. They’re all a kind of symbol so we could just call it that. But that’s even less helpful, isn’t it.