
You should learn to type (properly) - skilldrick
http://skilldrick.co.uk/2011/06/you-should-learn-to-type-properly/
======
tomjen3
I originally learned to touchtype in elementary school.

These days I just a Dvorak layout and don't worry too much about whether or
not I use the proper form. I also don't concern myself with typing speed too
much - if the speed at which your can write is your bottleneck, you are either
much too clever to be in normal software development or you should stop using
COBOL.

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skilldrick
It's probably worth clarifying here that touch-typing is different to typing-
without-looking-at-the-keyboard-(much). As knowtheory said, many presume that
they're the former, when they're actually the latter.

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sfk
What an arrogant posting (presumably by a web developer). Go write some
mathematical software or anything serious at all and you'll find soon enough
that typing is not even remotely the bottleneck.

~~~
skilldrick
What an arrogant comment. If you'd read the post, you would have seen that I
said it's often not the bottleneck, but there are times when you need to get
stuff out of your head as quickly as possible.

This "typing is not the bottleneck" is such a cliché - I nearly wrote about it
in the article. It presupposes that programming is some kind of pipes-and-
filters activity where we're thinking and then typing and then compiling. I
don't know about you, but when I'm programming I work in different states.
Sometimes it actually is about getting the code into the computer as fast as
possible. Not all the time, but sometimes.

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misuse-permit
Blehg, GNU Typist recommends putting two spaces after period. Someone needs a
lesson from a typographer.

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X-Istence
I don't necessarily touch type since I almost never use my pinky other than to
hold down the shift button. I don't really see the need to learn how to hold
my hands on homerow to type better, I can type about 98 - 110 wpm without any
issues without looking at my keyboard.

The way I got better at typing and typing fast was to be on very busy IRC
channels where getting a word in edgewise without missing any of the
conversation required a lot of fast typing.

I understand that most of this was meant for the people that are hunt and peck
type. I don't think it is at all necessary for people that are able to type at
a rapid rate using their own style to relearn how to type.

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2muchcoffeeman
I never learned to touch type. But if I use some amount of concentration I can
type without looking at the keyboard. It's a bit like playing the guitar. I
can see a mental picture of the keyboard and I can hit them with fairly high
accuracy. I use most of my fingers but the pinkies are often regulated to
hitting modifiers. Strangely I cannot picture many of the punctuation keys
very well. Nor digits; top row or keypad.

I remember having to hunt and peck. But kids now use the keyboard from a
younger age, I think the need for formal typing skills is not going to be
necessary.

~~~
gnosis
_"But if I use some amount of concentration I can type without looking at the
keyboard."_

A competent touch typist should be able to type with his eyes closed, and
without needing to concentrate at all. Typing becomes a reflex action, and you
can concentrate on finding the right words, or on your code/problem itself.

------
jarek-foksa
I have recently created a simple touch typing trainer app for Chrome. It's
heavily inspired by "typefortune" mode from gtypist:
[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/okboeogmnhjpgbeaok...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/okboeogmnhjpgbeaokfogelclpblaemo)

~~~
fgm2r
I keep managing to navigate backwards to an empty tab without wanting to.

I tried to write a Chrome extension for typing text on websites recently. But
I never got it to select the correct text blocks, especially on sites with
table layouts like HN.

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bishboria
I'm a coder and I only learned to touch-type recently (within the last year)
in QWERTY, it felt better but QWERTY itself just didn't feel right to me.

I've since moved over to Colemak layout and I've never looked back (combined
with a TypeMatrix keyboard).

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bricestacey
If you're on a mac you can install homebrew[1] and then do the following:

    
    
      brew install gnu-typist
      gtypist
    

[1] <http://mxcl.github.com/homebrew/>

~~~
skilldrick
Thanks. I'm on Ubuntu and did

    
    
        sudo apt-get install gtypist

------
Sargis
Does using an azerty keyboard slow you down when using Vim? I'm assuming it
was developed with qwerty keyboards in mind.

~~~
bishboria
I use Vim religiously with the Colemak layout. hjkl are a bit messed up, but
that's nothing.

------
zitterbewegung
How many developers don't know how to touch type? Is this really a problem?
EDIT: Even if you pass the hiring process I think you would get fired pretty
immediately.

~~~
davidamcclain
As a colleague said "Wow, you can type really fast... for someone who only
uses two fingers".

Now he's exaggerating a bit, but I am a slow typer that predominately uses
index, middle and thumb. Now, I get stuff done, I'm a pretty smart coder but
typing speed, to me, feels like a huge bottleneck. By far the most important
area I need to improve on.

Unlearning bad habits is hard, any advice?

~~~
bodski
Switch layout to Dvorak maybe? It will give you a fresh start and allow you to
type fast with less finger travel and less pain, not necessarily any faster
though.

Also will infuriate your co-workers and family members when they come to
borrow your machine!

~~~
jerf
If you want to forcibly learn to touch-type, learning Dvorak is a very potent
solution. The reason why you don't touch-type on QWERTY is generally that,
frankly, there isn't a very compelling reason to. QWERTY doesn't reward you
for it. You keep your fingers on the home row, and you get, what, the J? The
K? F? The _semi-colon_? WTF? Why _would_ you touch type? I'm not actually sure
failing to touch type with QWERTY is actually a problem. It may actually be
the most rational reaction.

Or you can switch to a sensible keyboard layout, of which Dvorak is the
easiest to get support for (though not the only, and, abstractly, not
necessarily the best, but mostly good enough). Now you get AOEU under your
left hand and HTNS under your right, and guess what, you don't have to _try_
to keep your fingers on the home row, because they're just there anyhow. It's
difficult to imagine what a "non-touch-typing Dvorak user" would even _be_ ,
at least once you've really internalized it.

Given how painful learning to QWERTY touch type can be, it's probably easier
just to switch to Dvorak, learn the layout, then just naturally learn touch
typing in the next couple of months without "trying". The total effort might
be lower, even if the switch isn't free.

(This is all assuming we just take as a given that touch typing is desirable.
I'm not sure about that, but I also think we lack the data to be sure either
way, especially when it comes to long term effects.)

------
bane
The home-row (touch) typists I know are without exception, all the non-tech
people I know. I can't even think of a single tech person in my entire career
that typed like this.

When I was in High School we were required to take a typing class. I sat next
to two of my nerd friends. When the teacher had little tests or races, we
always came in 1st 2nd and 3rd in the class in terms of speed an accuracy, and
between the 3 of us we probably used 8 fingers combined.

