diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index cc4bc942..cf422d0a 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -8,3 +8,4 @@ pom.xml
 native
 .cake
 .lein-deps-sum
+target
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 0f6eedb7..6da96b40 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ Quil requires Clojure 1.4.0 or higher, and other dependencies described in `proj
 
 [Leiningen](https://github.com/technomancy/leiningen) users simply need to add Quil as a dependency to their `project.clj`:
 
-    [quil "1.4.1"]
+    [quil "1.5.0"]
 
 Then to pull in all of Quil's silky goodness, just add the following to your `ns` declaration:
 
diff --git a/RELEASE-NOTES.md b/RELEASE-NOTES.md
index 78230c70..df843389 100644
--- a/RELEASE-NOTES.md
+++ b/RELEASE-NOTES.md
@@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
+## 1.6.0
+_7th July 2012_
+
+* Add `debug` fn for printing and forcing the current thread to sleep.
+* Add `key-coded` for determining whether the currently pressed key is
+  _coded_ i.e. a special character.
+* Add `key-as-keyword` for returning the currently pressed key as a keyword.
+
 ## 1.5.0
 _16th June 2012_
 
diff --git a/project.clj b/project.clj
index 060e9030..cfe54fdd 100644
--- a/project.clj
+++ b/project.clj
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-(defproject quil "1.5.0"
+(defproject quil "1.6.0"
   :description "(mix Processing Clojure)"
   :url "http://github.com/quil/quil"
   :mailing-list {:name "Quil Mailing List"
diff --git a/src/quil/core.clj b/src/quil/core.clj
index 513ce312..a1612d8b 100644
--- a/src/quil/core.clj
+++ b/src/quil/core.clj
@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@
     ^{:doc "Wrappers and extensions around the core Processing.org API."
       :author "Roland Sadowski, Sam Aaron"}
     quil.core
-  (:import [processing.core PApplet PImage PGraphics PFont PConstants PShape])
+    (:import [processing.core PApplet PImage PGraphics PFont PConstants PShape]
+             [java.awt.event KeyEvent])
   (:require [clojure.set])
   (:use [quil.version :only [QUIL-VERSION-STR]]
         [quil.util :only [int-like? resolve-constant-key length-of-longest-key gen-padding print-definition-list]]
@@ -4373,3 +4374,79 @@
   the visualisation. See sketch for the available options."
   [app-name & opts]
   `(defapplet ~app-name ~@opts))
+
+(defn ^{:requires-bindings false
+        :processing-name nil
+        :category "Input"
+        :subcategory "Keyboard"
+        :added "1.6"}
+  key-coded?
+  "Returns true if char c is a 'coded' char i.e. it is necessary to
+  fetch the key-code as an integer and use that to determine the
+  specific key pressed. See key-keyword."
+  [c]
+  (= PConstants/CODED (int c)))
+
+(def  ^{:private true}
+  KEY-CODES {KeyEvent/VK_UP      :up
+             KeyEvent/VK_DOWN    :down
+             KeyEvent/VK_LEFT    :left
+             KeyEvent/VK_RIGHT   :right
+             KeyEvent/VK_ALT     :alt
+             KeyEvent/VK_CONTROL :control
+             KeyEvent/VK_SHIFT   :shift
+             KeyEvent/VK_WINDOWS :command
+             KeyEvent/VK_META    :command
+             KeyEvent/VK_F1      :f1
+             KeyEvent/VK_F2      :f2
+             KeyEvent/VK_F3      :f3
+             KeyEvent/VK_F4      :f4
+             KeyEvent/VK_F5      :f5
+             KeyEvent/VK_F6      :f6
+             KeyEvent/VK_F7      :f7
+             KeyEvent/VK_F8      :f8
+             KeyEvent/VK_F9      :f9
+             KeyEvent/VK_F10     :f10
+             KeyEvent/VK_F11     :f11
+             KeyEvent/VK_F12     :f12
+             KeyEvent/VK_F13     :f13
+             KeyEvent/VK_F14     :f14
+             KeyEvent/VK_F15     :f15
+             KeyEvent/VK_F16     :f16
+             KeyEvent/VK_F17     :f17
+             KeyEvent/VK_F18     :f18
+             KeyEvent/VK_F19     :f19
+             KeyEvent/VK_F20     :f20
+             KeyEvent/VK_F21     :f21
+             KeyEvent/VK_F22     :f22
+             KeyEvent/VK_F23     :f23
+             KeyEvent/VK_F24     :f24})
+
+(defn ^{:requires-bindings true
+        :processing-name nil
+        :category "Input"
+        :subcategory "Keyboard"
+        :added "1.6"}
+  key-as-keyword
+  "Returns a keyword representing the currently pressed key. Modifier
+  keys are represented as: :up, :down, :left, :right, :alt, :control,
+  :shift, :command, :f1-24"
+  []
+  (let [key-char (raw-key)
+        code     (key-code)]
+    (if (key-coded? key-char)
+      (get KEY-CODES code :unknown-key)
+      (keyword (str key-char)))))
+
+(defn
+  ^{:requires-bindings false
+    :processing-name nil
+    :category "Debugging"
+    :added "1.6"}
+  debug
+  "Prints msg and then sleeps the current thread for delay-ms. Useful
+  for debugging live running sketches. delay-ms defaults to 300. "
+  ([msg] (debug msg 300))
+  ([msg delay-ms]
+     (println msg)
+     (Thread/sleep delay-ms)))