Yes, they are neat. The common name is either "Shuttle Shift" for F/R, and "Powershif" for ranges and gears within ranges. Lots of tractors had both....some still do, and it's still an under-appreciated sweet spot price-wise even on brand new compact tractors. Most are fingertip operation. They aren't quite as smooth as HST, for loader work, but larger tractors tend to use shuttle because they are efficient and durable.
Some of the early versions required clutching for gears and ranges, but used clutchless electrically triggered hydraulic actuators for shuttling between forward and reverse..... whew, what a sentence....
Anyway, early versions back in the 1960s and 70s by Ford and JD were iffy and had some problems. The first powershift I personally looked at was the Yanmar clutchless "powershift" that they went to in the early 1980s on everything over 16 hp. I saw it as a demo at a dealer show. I almost bought that tractor....
How those work is that the transmission gears are locked in by hydraulic clutch pack right next to each gear on the transmission shaft. The trigger is an electric shifter that sticks out the side of the steering wheel. smooth and darn near trouble free. Even today you don't hear much problems with those old powershifts.
enjoy, rScotty