Stenographers need to optimise for input speed, almost everyone else doesn’t have that requirement. Right, max WPM isn't necessarily everything (though it's a

Stenographers need to optimise for input speed, almost everyone else doesn’t have that requirement. Right, max WPM isn't necessarily everything (though it's a pretty good proxy for overall effectiveness of the tool), what's more interesting is the way the device can adapt to the user. The programmers complaining about the symbol keys could create mappings that make those easier/more natural (combined with a device with a more ergonomic form factor). Technically you can kind of do this with a regular keyboard via macros/expansions/remapping but it would work a lot better if the with a device that was designed with that in mind.