Have you noticed the correspondence between these alternate terminal incantations and the resultant codes they produce? If an ASCII table is laid out in columns of 32, they are on the same row, e.g.
(3) ETX <-- C (67)
(4) EOT <-- D (68)
(8) BS <-- H (72)
(27) ESC <-- [ (91)
I was happy to find some order in what previously seemed arcane stuff.
To be honest, that super-thin row of Esc/F-keys on the 11" Air has been totally useless anyway for real typing, so if I go from there to a new Pro, I wouldn't really miss that stuff.