6 ms·
Reminds me of the time I learned Dvorak.
by tcfunk 8y ago
Reminds me of the time I learned Dvorak.
- justadudeama 8y agoI was going to say the same thing. And when I wen't back to QWERTY, it eventually switched and I could type fast.
- xenadu02 8y agoIt is possible to achieve high typing speed on both; I did just that for a few years by switching back and forth on a regular basis. In the end the inconvenience simply wasn’t worth it and I gave up.
- justadudeama 8y agoDid you give up QWERTY or Dvorak?
- lenocinor 8y agoNot the original commenter, but I had a similar experience, and gave up QWERTY. I point and peck the few times I have to use it (which isn't often, except on phones where it doesn't really matter for me) and that's worked well enough for me for many years.
- samstave 8y agoRandom anecdote/fact; an ex GF in HS was Dvorak's niece... she didn't have very nice things to say about him, just said he was super full of himself. I was really interested in meeting him, but after all the things she had to say about him, I lost interest, and stopped thinking I would be "cool" to switch to dvorak.
- dkersten 8y agoGood thing I chose colemak over dvorak ;) Off topic: I didn’t do it for speed though, I did it for typing comfort, and as someone who has had RSI scares, I’m really happy with my decision (and with my decision to get a Kinesis Advantage ergonomic keyboard). My two main activities these days are hand-intensive: typing and sleight-of-hand card magic. I need my hands to be in good shape! Honestly, I’m a little baffled by how few programmers use ergonomic keyboards, since their hands are so important to what they do, but only a little, since it took me years before I finally bought one myself despite thinking about it for a long time (I regret not doing so sooner).
- arafa 8y agoThis was my exact experience in learning an alternate keyboard layout. Worked out great for RSI and I've never looked back (though it was painful to start).
- sooper 8y agoThe cost of the alternative shape keyboards put me (and a lot of colleagues I've talked to) off for a long time. Glad I did finally save up to buy one! Pity I work on the road a lot and have to still use laptop keyboards a lot of the time.
- dkersten 8y agoThe cost was definitely a big part of it, I delayed for a long time because it seemed too expensive to me. In hindsight, given how much time I spend typing, it really isn't expensive at all, its just a big up-front cost... I now even use a 3 button foot pedal and love it. > Pity I work on the road a lot and have to still use laptop keyboards a lot of the time. Yeah, I use laptops and an iPad too and its obviously not very comfortable in comparison. Luckily I've managed to avoid it a lot lately, but its not always possible. It really sucks when I have to use an ordinary keyboard though and I definitely feel the discomfort :/
- tomsthumb 8y agoThe cost of a single PT appointment (much less a handful) should be enough for most people on dev salaries to consider the extra cost of a good ergonomic keyboard. Something something Sam Vimes and boots.
- Johnny555 8y agoand stopped thinking I would be "cool" to switch to dvorak If you're thinking of switching (or not) to a product or service because of the inventor's personality, you're already "not cool". If people based their use of Linux on Linus's personality, it'd still be a hobbyist OS.
- skookumchuck 8y agoThe thing is, I don't actually know what the editing commands are on my editor. My fingers know them, though. Sometimes I watch my fingers to see what the command is.
- Bromskloss 8y agoI hardly know what my password is.
- bunderbunder 8y agoEvery time I change my work password, I commit it to memory for about a day, until it's in my muscle memory. Shortly after that, I can bang it out on a keyboard in easily under a second, but I cannot write it on a piece of paper.
- zeta0134 8y agoI have this pretty much 100% of the time when I'm playing a piano piece, especially an older piece that I've somewhat forgotten. It's not so much that I'm re-learning the notes, it feels more like I'm coaxing the requisite movement back out of my hands. It's hard to explain, like... I can't really start a musical phrase halfway through because I don't know what notes I'm actually playing without the sheet music in front of me. But if I start at the beginning, my hands will do the right thing from muscle memory.
- Retra 8y agoI use to have the same trouble with my locker combo in high school. I could spin the lock open, but I couldn't tell you the numbers. I would occasionally lose the muscle memory too, for about a week at a time.