> The ergonomics of non-US keyboards were naturally not considered, which caused the path separator to be ridiculously difficult to type on some national keyboards (e.g. German), perhaps as a perverse reminder that ergonomics do matter.

The more I've shifted towards a keyboard-centric workflow, the more I'm feeling this lack of consideration regarding non-US layouts. When using a Spanish keyboard, the placement of characters like forward slashes, backslashes, tildes, pipes, etc. can be physically painful after an extended typing session. I'm considering either getting a US keyboard, or doing some serious keyboard map tweaking.

It's somewhat amusing to think that my current ergonomic predicaments are essentially the result of operating system and keyboard design choices and conventions that are over half a century old at this point.