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Having volunteered to teach kids coming from single-parent household with no computer at home, I've seen how the inability to type on a QWERTY keyboard with any

Having volunteered to teach kids coming from single-parent household with no computer at home, I've seen how the inability to type on a QWERTY keyboard with any modicum of speed (hunt-and-peck) actually limits them when we encourage them to 'iterate', 'try fast and fail', 'just code a line of something', or 'what will that do?'. If expressing your thoughts and intentions to the editor is painful and slow, it is a concrete barrier to learning how to fail faster. Forgot teaching kids how to code right away , teach them how to type first so they can "commune" with the machine (ideally with ergonomics and whole arm movement in mind so RSI is not an issue).

colanderman 8y ago
Specifically I would suggest to let them learn to type themselves, rather than following some program. (I.e., don't teach home-row typing.) I taught myself to type when I was 5 or 6, and type with wrists straight (so, at an angle to each other), hands in no fixed location, and both hands sharing duty for several keys. I credit this with my freedom from keyboard-related RSI even after 28 years of typing. (I have had mouse-related RSI. Mice cause grip issues.) Better still is to give them a real keyboard, i.e. one with key travel, not a crappy laptop keyboard. I learned on an Apple II, plenty of key travel. Typing on a MacBook over the course of three recent years nearly destroyed my typing ability due to what I can only describe as something like the yips. Switching back to a real keyboard has helped.
- egypturnash 8y ago
  I think there's something to this. I can type with a pretty decent speed if I look down at the keys now and then; my hands float around the keyboard and mostly hit keys with the first two fingers on either hand, with the occasional left pinky for a modifier and right thumb for space. I have tried to Learn To Touch Type multiple times in my life and every single time I could feel my wrists starting to ache from holding them close together and angled. Dealing with that's just not worth the increased speed and ability to never look at the keyboard that touch-typing would give me.
scarface74 8y ago
Having volunteered to teach kids coming from single-parent household with no computer at home, I've seen how the inability to type on a QWERTY keyboard with any modicum of speed (hunt-and-peck) actually limits them when we encourage them to 'iterate', 'try fast and fail', 'just code a line of something', or 'what will that do?'. If expressing your thoughts and intentions to the editor is painful and slow, it is a concrete barrier to learning how to fail faster. I can give you an opposite anecdote from personal experience. I learned how to program at 12 not learning how to touch type correctly. Guess what? I’ve been programming for 30 years and still can’t “properly” touch type. I’ve typed with one hand all of my life (not by choice) and it hasnt slowed my career down. With modern IDE’s and autocompletion, my typing speed hasn’t been a hindrance.

colanderman 8y ago

Specifically I would suggest to let them learn to type themselves, rather than following some program. (I.e., don't teach home-row typing.) I taught myself to type when I was 5 or 6, and type with wrists straight (so, at an angle to each other), hands in no fixed location, and both hands sharing duty for several keys. I credit this with my freedom from keyboard-related RSI even after 28 years of typing. (I have had mouse-related RSI. Mice cause grip issues.) Better still is to give them a real keyboard, i.e. one with key travel, not a crappy laptop keyboard. I learned on an Apple II, plenty of key travel. Typing on a MacBook over the course of three recent years nearly destroyed my typing ability due to what I can only describe as something like the yips. Switching back to a real keyboard has helped.

egypturnash 8y ago
I think there's something to this. I can type with a pretty decent speed if I look down at the keys now and then; my hands float around the keyboard and mostly hit keys with the first two fingers on either hand, with the occasional left pinky for a modifier and right thumb for space. I have tried to Learn To Touch Type multiple times in my life and every single time I could feel my wrists starting to ache from holding them close together and angled. Dealing with that's just not worth the increased speed and ability to never look at the keyboard that touch-typing would give me.

scarface74 8y ago

Having volunteered to teach kids coming from single-parent household with no computer at home, I've seen how the inability to type on a QWERTY keyboard with any modicum of speed (hunt-and-peck) actually limits them when we encourage them to 'iterate', 'try fast and fail', 'just code a line of something', or 'what will that do?'. If expressing your thoughts and intentions to the editor is painful and slow, it is a concrete barrier to learning how to fail faster. I can give you an opposite anecdote from personal experience. I learned how to program at 12 not learning how to touch type correctly. Guess what? I’ve been programming for 30 years and still can’t “properly” touch type. I’ve typed with one hand all of my life (not by choice) and it hasnt slowed my career down. With modern IDE’s and autocompletion, my typing speed hasn’t been a hindrance.