
Your Typing Style Might Not Be So Bad - FollowSteph3
http://gizmodo.com/your-stupid-ass-typing-style-might-not-actually-be-so-b-1758276263
======
weinzierl

       > The researchers say our typing techniques are often a 
       > reflection of the task being performed on the computer. 
       > “The touch typing system was developed for typing 
       > sentences on typewriters,” said Feit. “It is not 
       > advantageous for Photoshop shortcuts or gaming, often 
       > done with one hand on the mouse.”
    
       > Developers could use this research to create better user 
       > interfaces both in software and in keyboards 
       > themselves. The interfaces should be tailored to the 
       > way we type today, not how we typed a long time ago.
    

So much this. Writing English sentences on a typewriter with touch typing
works well. But many people don't write prose exclusively and computer
keyboards are not typewriters so it's no surprise that touch typing doesn't
often work so well.

As a programmer I find typing {, } and \ with the pinky the biggest problem.
There are layouts especially for programmers. The ones that I'm aware of are
Programmer Dvorak[1] and Neo[2].

[1]
[http://www.kaufmann.no/roland/dvorak/](http://www.kaufmann.no/roland/dvorak/)

[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboard_layout#Neo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboard_layout#Neo)

~~~
melling
Neo is optimized for the German language, not for programming.

[http://www.neo-layout.org](http://www.neo-layout.org)

Other languages have a different letter distribution so different keys should
be on the home row, for example.

Other popular layouts include:

Colemak:
[http://www.workmanlayout.com/blog/](http://www.workmanlayout.com/blog/)

Norman: [https://normanlayout.info/](https://normanlayout.info/)

Workman:
[http://www.workmanlayout.com/blog/](http://www.workmanlayout.com/blog/)

~~~
weinzierl
> Neo is optimized for the German language, not for programming.

Optimization for programming is not the main goal of the Neo layout, but it is
a feature, see [1]

Programmier- und Sonderzeichen wie / \ [ ] $ > = sind gut erreichbar.

My translation: Programming and special charactes, like / \ [ ] $ > = are easy
to reach.

[1] [http://wiki.neo-layout.org/wiki/Einf%C3%BChrungskapitel](http://wiki.neo-
layout.org/wiki/Einf%C3%BChrungskapitel)

Thanks for sharing the other layouts.

------
scandox
I tried to learn to touch type last year. Bought a blank keyboard to help. 8
months later I still type with two index fingers, at the same speed as I ever
did (about 45 wpm) and with more or less zero errors. Only on a blank
keyboard, so I never look down anymore. Kind of weird and still unnerving .
I'll try touch typing again sometime. And yes, I'm afraid I'm a professional
programmer.

~~~
HCIdivision17
When I got a Das Keyboard back in college, it was largely to break myself of
the habit of looking down (also it looked cool). I wasn't slow, but looking as
I typed always ended up tripping me up. Removing the letters was the only
thing that broke me of the habit. Best money I spent on my machine, silly as
it was.

------
melling
You might be just as fast and just as accurate but your fingers are definitely
working harder, which could lead to RSI, for example. People have analyzed
various layouts for efficiency, which may vary with type of work:

[http://xahlee.info/kbd/dvorak_and_all_keyboard_layouts.html](http://xahlee.info/kbd/dvorak_and_all_keyboard_layouts.html)

[http://patorjk.com/keyboard-layout-
analyzer/#/about](http://patorjk.com/keyboard-layout-analyzer/#/about)

[https://medium.com/@vojtajina/my-keyboard-layout-is-
better-t...](https://medium.com/@vojtajina/my-keyboard-layout-is-better-than-
yours-f23b19d1b046)

There are more links under "Alternate Keyboard Layouts" on this GitHub page:
[https://github.com/melling/ErgonomicNotes/blob/master/keyboa...](https://github.com/melling/ErgonomicNotes/blob/master/keyboards.org)

~~~
mchahn
> which could lead to RSI

As a single data-point I find RSI isn't a problem for my typing style. I'm in
my sixties and I've fought RSI on and off many times. To the contrary my
typing style has changed to be more comfortable and less stressful. I've
actually had to change it at times to lessen pains in specific fingers.
Forcing myself to use touch-typing had caused pain in my pinkies before.

~~~
melling
What is your "typing style"? Newer keyboard layouts trying to reduce the
"pinky" usage. "Programmer Dvorak", for instance, places frequently use
programming keys (e.g. [ }) more conveniently on the keyboard. What you're
doing might work for you, but there are quite a few people with RSI issues so
something that helps and is reproducible is needed.

~~~
mchahn
I use only qwerty. I've never considered another. Studies say dvorak is no
faster and I've never considered it for pain.

> What you're doing might work for you,

As I said, it's just one data point.

~~~
melling
It's not about typing faster, it's about moving your fingers less by placing
frequently used keys on the home row, or in an easier place to reach. I posted
a lot of information about this. Read through some of it.

Think about it like mileage on a car. If your fingers move half the distance
to type the same text, that will add up over the decades.

------
unfunco
I was given a computer at an early age and my mother didn't know how it worked
and had never used a computer, and my grandfather was blind, and so had never
used a computer either. I picked up how different keys and combinations worked
myself at around the age of seven, and developed an awful habit of turning
caps-lock on, pressing the letter I wanted in uppercase, and then turned caps-
lock off again.

I'm thirty now, and a professional programmer, and it's only within the last
few months that I've gotten away from the habit by disabling the caps-lock
key, I might remap it to something else in the future.

I type at a pretty speedy pace, probably around 80-90 words per minute, my
fingers don't rest on the home row. The only thing that bothers me with my
current typing is that my left pinky has a tendency stick up, as if I'm
drinking tea. [0]

[0] Like so.
[http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-crwYVpcU7z8/TfvDnx6v82I/AAAAAAAAB3...](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-crwYVpcU7z8/TfvDnx6v82I/AAAAAAAAB3k/It_wUU46a3c/s1600/tea+with+pinky.jpg)

------
Udik
Makes me wonder. Are we typists? It almost never happens to me to have to copy
a text from paper - and never more than a few lines in any case. So I can
freely stare at the keyboard while I type, I'm concentrated on what I'm typing
anyway. Also, I don't think that my output is in any way limited by the amount
of words I can type per minute - more by the amount of words or lines of code
my brain is able to produce in a minute, which is not much.

Finally, if there is something that really makes me cringe, is when some
colleague or friend proudly declares to type like real men do, without looking
at the keyboard. They usually sit in the correct ergonomic position, back well
straight, eyes on the monitor, and start typing. A word. Mistake. Backspace.
Again. Mistake. Backspace. Space. Mistake. Backspace.

And they're typing code. With auto-completion, intellisense and everything.

~~~
T-hawk
For programming, words-per-minute typing speed isn't so important. Just typing
characters is a small fraction of your input. You're doing all sorts of other
operations - moving and pasting expressions and lines, adjusting indentation,
switching to another window with documentation. These operations go all over
the function keys, navigation keys (home, page down, etc), arrow keys,
modified by all sorts of chords (ctrl, alt, apple, etc). None of that is
captured by the traditional words-per-minute typing metric.

For programming, a better characterization is actions-per-minute, like in
Starcraft. I can navigate my IDE and OS noticeably faster than most other
developers I've met. Especially non-technical folks are amazed by the speed
that I can compile and tab over to the explorer window to copy the output to a
staging server, faster than they even register what they're watching. Actions-
per-minute and the accuracy of them does matter for the speed and productivity
of a given programmer.

~~~
ry_ry
I'm not convinced apm makes a more productive programmer.

One of the juniors on my team actually asked me the other day how many lines
of code he should ideally produce per day. I told him that as far as I was
concerned, anthing below zero lines was pretty cool.

------
pqhwan
Like any South Korean worth their salt, I learned to type on qwerty from
typing Starcraft cheat codes as a child.

------
c0nsumer
I learned to type with speed by playing Police Quest when quite young, and
developed a quite quick, but interesting style where I never use my thumbs. I
tend to cover roughly 2/3 of the keyboard (the left side) using my left hand,
and the remaining 1/3 (and 10-key) with the right.

It's worked out well for me, and I can touch type both code and English
wonderfully. The only time it falls apart is when I find myself in front of a
split, so-called ergonomic keyboard, which expects each hand to do a 50%
split.

------
WorldMaker
As a counter-anecdote: my stupid self-taught style involved my left pinky
shifted left to hover/handle the shift/ctrl keys, and thus my right hand
travelled a bit more to cover the remaining keys.

In graduate school I started to have increasingly frequent bouts of wrist pain
and realized I needed to do something or risk major surgery. I took a weekend,
relearned touch typing with the Colemak layout, and have been happy I did that
ever sense.

------
tzakrajs
Beyond typing speed, it is worth mentioning that overuse of the index fingers
(hunt and peck) can lead to increased risk of carpal tunnel:
[http://www.medpagetoday.com/Neurology/GeneralNeurology/4481](http://www.medpagetoday.com/Neurology/GeneralNeurology/4481)

------
autoreleasepool
I switched to Colemak to reduce strain and found it to be effective. The only
issue I have with it, is I sometimes forget to press ctrl-space before I pass
my Mac to a coworker. Then I have to explain out-loud that I use Colemak,
which is hard to do without sounding like a total hipster.

~~~
nwah1
s/hipster/autist/

------
mchahn
I learned how to touch-type in high school so I could type easily at college.
After programming for years I've migrated to a custom scheme that seems a lot
easier to type than touch. I have suspected I was no slower but I haven't
tested myself. Even if slower it is easier.

------
madengr
After reading that I don't feel so bad now that I don't know how to type. Hard
to break the habit of using two fingers on a C64 in grade school. The qwerty
keyboard seems very inefficient for technical use anyway.

------
mstechfreak
I am using dvorak. Learned it when found out about
[http://www.typingstudy.com](http://www.typingstudy.com) :-) Love it since
then!

------
cwe
Isn't this more a reflection of the limits of the qwerty layout? Both 'styles'
have similar asymptotic limits because the layout simply doesn't enable faster
speeds very well.

