Resetting the backspace key

I?m currently developing an ncurses application, and my terminal often
ends up in a quite weird state. Usually, the backspace key does not
work:

    $ ls -xx^?^?

The reset command does help a lot, but not in this case. The solution is
this

    $ stty erase ^?

Instead of typing ^?, I hit the backspace key. I also created an alias:

    alias r="reset && stty erase ^?"

(Again, instead of typing ^?, i hit the backspace key.)

ncurses, here I come!