Abstract: A joystick, or any other type of input device which translates motion into a related signal, provides proportional control for a variable associated with a computer program, not adapted for proportional joystick control. In one embodiment, one input to the computer causes a variable in a computer program to repeatedly increment in one direction, a second input causes the variable to repeatedly increment in the opposite direction. The first input is produced for a period of time related to a change in joystick position in a first direction and the second input is produced for a period of time corresponding to the degree the joystick is moved in a second direction. In another embodiment, the present invention produces keyboard symbol codes to simulate a keyboard. The invention repeatedly produces an appropriate code for a number of times, the number corresponding to the degree to which the joystick was moved.