6 ms·

I was inspired by a guy from Brazil to learn to touch-type. It not on the national curriculum in the UK. I'd say well over half of UK coders can't touch-type. I

I was inspired by a guy from Brazil to learn to touch-type. It not on the national curriculum in the UK. I'd say well over half of UK coders can't touch-type. I can easily do 90+ words per minute without trying. I just think and my fingers wobble and words appear. It's like magic. I'd say everyone should learn. I learned to run code without re-reading it from a bad coder. I used to spend a few mins reading code I'd written to double check it. Then i worked with a guy that just would run code, it would error, my heart would jump, but the world wouldn't explode. So I do that too nowadays a little bit sometimes. Just run the code after writing it without rereading it. It's scary but works 85% of the time. thing is you can run code twice and let the console tell you the issue often quicker than you reading it carefully. (be careful with this tip.) .i.e there's a time to do it and a time not to. i.e. if your changing some css block, you may not need to reread it 5 times before refreshing the page. but if you are about recursively rm some dir then maybe check.

beforeolives 5y ago
I never understood this way of thinking about touch typing as a distinct skill from typing. My experience was that when you're kid and use a computer for the first time, you need to look at the keys, and then over time you look less and eventually you can type without looking at all. I never saw it as a distinct skill that needs it's own name or needs to be taught in school (apparently I'm wrong about this). It's just typing to me.
- byteface 5y ago
  when my missus goes to bed. i can still game without a backlit keyboard. you can't.
  - beforeolives 5y ago
    I can. My point is that I can do it without having been explicitly taught touch typing. It's just a skill I developed over time and I thought that it happened for everyone else too.
    - byteface 5y ago
      So you feel for the 'home keys' instincitvely without looking? every time you type? and never had a single lesson?
      - beforeolives 5y ago
        I've never had lessons, I have no concept of home keys (just had to look up what they are), I type everything without ever looking at my keyboard at a reasonable speed.
      - autophagian 5y ago
        Yes.
      - byteface 5y ago
        that was my point. the two little lumps on 'f' and 'j' are so you know where to put your pointer fingers in the dark. touch typers feel for them so they can type without looking. It's cool that you can just do that, without knowing, over time.
        lostcolony 5y ago
        To be fair, as someone who is similar in not using touch typing (but hits high wpm), new keyboards do throw me a little bit, and it takes me 10-30 minutes on one to get my error rate back down to negligible. That said, I instinctively know when I have typed an error, even on a new keyboard, and so am already moving to hit backspace before my brain even goes "oops, wait, you made a mistake", so the new keyboard is really just slowing me down rather than leading to bad output.
      - gkbrk 5y ago
        Isn't this a thing that naturally happens over time? I've never heard of anyone taking typing lessons, even among programmers.
      - StavrosK 5y ago
        I don't use the home keys, I just know where the keys are. I type with my first three fingers and use the pinky for Shift and Ctrl. I can do 120 wpm and am very accurate at it. When I don't touch-type. I learned touch-typing years ago and use that too when I'm at my ortho keyboard, but I'm much slower and less accurate than my home brew technique.
- byteface 5y ago
  I'll point out i learned at about 25. im 40 now. at that time i rated myself too.
- gwn7 5y ago
  > I never understood this way of thinking about touch typing as a distinct skill from typing. Touch typing is a special technique. Typing and touch typing being distinct things isn't a "way of thinking", it's a clear fact. It's not open to interpretation. The keyboard is an instrument. Anyone can use it without learning the proper technique, but the technique helps a great deal. That's the whole point. It is greatly comparable to musical instruments. For instance you can learn how to play the guitar yourself, but if you know the proper technique, you'll have better mastery in a shorter time. This is why it needs to be teached, especially to knowledge workers, who type, type and type all day long. Maybe the skill you currently have is enough for you, but you shouldn't dismiss the proper technique, especially if you haven't tried it (you sound like you didn't really). Though if you can answer yes to all the questions below, then you probably don't need the technique: - Can you easily do 80+ wpm whether it is prose or code? - Do you have more than 95% accuracy at all times? - Do you never (no exceptions) look at the keyboard? These things all make a difference. Having less friction with the input instrument results in a higher stamina in a knowledge worker, which means more productivity per unit of time. Few realize this.
  - StavrosK 5y ago
    I could easily do 120 wpm at 98% accuracy before I switched to touch typing years ago. Now I'm at 80wpm at 95%.
    - gwn7 5y ago
      You are the exception, you know that right? There will always be outliers. What we should care about is what the technique can do for the majority of the people. But since you are an interesting exception, I'm curious of your take actually. Maybe please offer us some more information: - Why do you think you did slow down after the switch to touch typing? - Why did you feel the need to switch to touch typing if the skill you already had was so good? - Do you think there are any benefits of touch typing over your old technique? - Do you regret switching to touch typing? Why? - How many years did it take you to get to 120 wpm at 98%? - Is there anything you miss from your old technique (beside the higher stats)?
- StavrosK 5y ago
  I agree with you, I've always thought of it like learning to ride a bike without training wheels. It's not "riding a bike without training wheels", it's "riding a bike". If you need to look at the keyboard, you aren't good at typing yet.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

beforeolives 5y ago

I never understood this way of thinking about touch typing as a distinct skill from typing. My experience was that when you're kid and use a computer for the first time, you need to look at the keys, and then over time you look less and eventually you can type without looking at all. I never saw it as a distinct skill that needs it's own name or needs to be taught in school (apparently I'm wrong about this). It's just typing to me.

byteface 5y ago
when my missus goes to bed. i can still game without a backlit keyboard. you can't.
- beforeolives 5y ago
  I can. My point is that I can do it without having been explicitly taught touch typing. It's just a skill I developed over time and I thought that it happened for everyone else too.
  - byteface 5y ago
    So you feel for the 'home keys' instincitvely without looking? every time you type? and never had a single lesson?
    - beforeolives 5y ago
      I've never had lessons, I have no concept of home keys (just had to look up what they are), I type everything without ever looking at my keyboard at a reasonable speed.
    - autophagian 5y ago
      Yes.
    - byteface 5y ago
      that was my point. the two little lumps on 'f' and 'j' are so you know where to put your pointer fingers in the dark. touch typers feel for them so they can type without looking. It's cool that you can just do that, without knowing, over time.
      - lostcolony 5y ago
        To be fair, as someone who is similar in not using touch typing (but hits high wpm), new keyboards do throw me a little bit, and it takes me 10-30 minutes on one to get my error rate back down to negligible. That said, I instinctively know when I have typed an error, even on a new keyboard, and so am already moving to hit backspace before my brain even goes "oops, wait, you made a mistake", so the new keyboard is really just slowing me down rather than leading to bad output.
    - gkbrk 5y ago
      Isn't this a thing that naturally happens over time? I've never heard of anyone taking typing lessons, even among programmers.
    - StavrosK 5y ago
      I don't use the home keys, I just know where the keys are. I type with my first three fingers and use the pinky for Shift and Ctrl. I can do 120 wpm and am very accurate at it. When I don't touch-type. I learned touch-typing years ago and use that too when I'm at my ortho keyboard, but I'm much slower and less accurate than my home brew technique.
byteface 5y ago
I'll point out i learned at about 25. im 40 now. at that time i rated myself too.
gwn7 5y ago
> I never understood this way of thinking about touch typing as a distinct skill from typing. Touch typing is a special technique. Typing and touch typing being distinct things isn't a "way of thinking", it's a clear fact. It's not open to interpretation. The keyboard is an instrument. Anyone can use it without learning the proper technique, but the technique helps a great deal. That's the whole point. It is greatly comparable to musical instruments. For instance you can learn how to play the guitar yourself, but if you know the proper technique, you'll have better mastery in a shorter time. This is why it needs to be teached, especially to knowledge workers, who type, type and type all day long. Maybe the skill you currently have is enough for you, but you shouldn't dismiss the proper technique, especially if you haven't tried it (you sound like you didn't really). Though if you can answer yes to all the questions below, then you probably don't need the technique: - Can you easily do 80+ wpm whether it is prose or code? - Do you have more than 95% accuracy at all times? - Do you never (no exceptions) look at the keyboard? These things all make a difference. Having less friction with the input instrument results in a higher stamina in a knowledge worker, which means more productivity per unit of time. Few realize this.
- StavrosK 5y ago
  I could easily do 120 wpm at 98% accuracy before I switched to touch typing years ago. Now I'm at 80wpm at 95%.
  - gwn7 5y ago
    You are the exception, you know that right? There will always be outliers. What we should care about is what the technique can do for the majority of the people. But since you are an interesting exception, I'm curious of your take actually. Maybe please offer us some more information: - Why do you think you did slow down after the switch to touch typing? - Why did you feel the need to switch to touch typing if the skill you already had was so good? - Do you think there are any benefits of touch typing over your old technique? - Do you regret switching to touch typing? Why? - How many years did it take you to get to 120 wpm at 98%? - Is there anything you miss from your old technique (beside the higher stats)?
StavrosK 5y ago
I agree with you, I've always thought of it like learning to ride a bike without training wheels. It's not "riding a bike without training wheels", it's "riding a bike". If you need to look at the keyboard, you aren't good at typing yet.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]