A device for programming an handling apparatus, an industrial robot in particular, having an operating unit situated on an arm of the handling apparatus, which is able to be moved by an operator for programming motion sequences together with the arm to different positions, especially processing positions, having input devices on the operating unit for detecting at least positions of the arm, preferably in the form of input keys, the operating unit being connected to a control device for the handling apparatus; and data transmitted via input devices of the operating unit to the control device being displayed to the operator via a monitoring unit. The input devices are additionally used for controlling and operating display menus and input menus stored in the control device, the display menus and the input menus being displayed on the monitoring unit.