

Ask HN: Coding speed - snihalani

Hello All,<p>I realize that I am not coding very fast. (49 wpm only). I am using only two fingers (index for characters and thumb for coding). I wish to increase my typing speed. If any one has made an app that helps people practice over text, give statistical information with correct finger to be used for each letter or anything close to my description, please provide me the url for it.<p>thanks.
======
stephengillie
I'm far from an expert, but I agree with veteran programmers who say that
typing speed and coding speed are not related.

If you're refactoring, you may be deleting and reworking code, not typing at
full speed. Sometimes you have to stop and think through your code to make
sure you're not making mistakes.

For a typing speed, 49 WPM is pretty good, especially for 2-finger typing. If
you want to improve your typing speed, there are lots of programs - Mavis
Beacon was one from 20 years ago, newer and better typing programs likely
exist today.

------
theshadow
This incorrectly assumes that typing speed is a bottleneck on coding. Most of
the time is spent thinking therefore typing speed is pretty much irrelevant.

~~~
rmATinnovafy
Agreed.

Personal example:

I design on a notebook. Write the code with a pencil to work out the
structure. Then type it at a fairly slow speed to lessen errors. Then test.

------
andreasvc
You don't need fancy statistical information, you simply need to force
yourself to use all ten fingers. You place your index fingers on the f and j
keys, and from there the correct finger for each keys is simply the one
closest to it. If you do it right your hands should move very little if at
all. It might help to switch to a new layout such as dvorak or colemak, to
start with a clean slate and learn typing with ten fingers from the ground up.
I agree with the others that typing is not the bottle neck in programming, but
typing correctly will also be less straining so I think it's worth the effort
to work on it.

------
bob_george33
I'd suggest this to help increase coding typing speed.
<http://wwwtyro.github.com/keyzen/>

------
duiker101
I think that while coding typing speed is not everything. If you type really
fast but end up having to write your code twice because it's wrongs you will
be a lot slower than taking it your time, think, look at it, "mentally debug"
and go on.

------
Mz
I have a son with oddly shaped hands. He suffers dysgraphia and many other
issues because of this. He finds the standard typing position physically
painful. I homeschooled him. We tried a few different typing programs. He
stayed with one he liked until he could type 35 wpm with few errors. That's
about what I type much of the time, when thinking and typing. I type about 60
wpm for timed tests where I am only copying.

I encouraged him to play online games to get his speed up. He types with two
fingers and a thumb at probably 80ish wpm when "chatting" with friends. This
is based on how it sounds. I know what 80ish wpm sounds like because that is
what his dad typed.

You can try typing programs and online games, etc, if you want. You may or may
not benefit from learning to position your hands "correctly", depending on the
underlying reason for your odd habits.

Best of luck.

------
yashchandra
"I am using only two fingers (index for characters and thumb for coding)."

Seems like the problem is not that you are coding slow. Problem is that you
are typing slow or incorrectly since use of 2 fingers is not the right way to
type anything. I had the same problem more than a decade ago and one day I
decided to fix it. Check out: www.learntyping.org (googled it but looks fine)

Once you get to a decent level, you can play typing games at www.typeracer.com

