8 ms·

I'm having difficulties finding the source right now, but I remember reading a story about a sysadmin that was berated for his typing speed and the story ended

by dmux 5y ago

I'm having difficulties finding the source right now, but I remember reading a story about a sysadmin that was berated for his typing speed and the story ended with him replying "I don't get paid to type code fast, I get paid to press enter very, very slowly."

Sosh101 5y ago
Haha brilliant.
Aperocky 5y ago
playing the devil's advocate, typing speed is important for these reasons: 1. It allows for minimal disruption to thinking process, close to 90% of the time even when coding is not actively typing, but when typing is subconscious and fast it removes the potential of where it interrupts the thinking process. 2. While this has no bearing on individual case (It would be Bayesian, some people consider that to be heretic), but a software engineer who does not type well have a greater chance of having had less practice.
- chromanoid 5y ago
  Autocomplete makes programming very different from normal typing. I don't need to type fast, I use my keyboard to trigger lists of options that I pick from. Modern programming is a contemplative interaction with the IDE/language server, normal typing should only come into play when you write comments.
  - Aperocky 5y ago
    Autocomplete is just a very small subset of modal editing paradigm, the entire editing process, both typing and key shortcuts (i.e. picking options) should be treated as the same.
    - chromanoid 5y ago
      But in this case WPM or similar are completely useless measures. With the right tooling one can pump out an extreme amount of code in a few minutes. It totally depends on the programming language and the available tooling, templates etc. You don't need quick fingers for programming. Depending on the verbosity of the programming language and if it is statically typed you are much faster in pumping out characters.
- Dobiasd 5y ago
  > 1. It allows for minimal disruption to thinking process, close to 90% of the time even when coding is not actively typing, but when typing is subconscious and fast it removes the potential of where it interrupts the thinking process. I agree, and even wrote an article about that a few years ago. :-) https://github.com/Dobiasd/articles/blob/master/how_touch_typing_and_keyboard_shortcuts_can_improve_the_quality_of_the_software_you_create.md https://github.com/Dobiasd/articles/blob/master/how_touch_ty...
- kelseyfrog 5y ago
  > It allows for minimal disruption to thinking process Willing to dive into this a bit more? My personal experience is different so I figure this is a chance to learn something new. The subjective character of typing experience for me is like riding a bike, driving a car, walking, or speaking. That is to say that unless I'm mountain biking, off-roading, on a balance beam, or trying to say a tongue twister, for the most part I'm unaware of the intention-execution-results loop, and the intention-results loop is all that consciously exists. My paltry 50-60wpm doesn't feel like an impediment to putting thoughts into text, but maybe others feel differently.
  - throw10920 5y ago
    I frequently encounter typing speed as a disruption to my thinking process while developing my personal projects. My personal projects are developed interactively in the REPL - I'll make a few small changes to an existing piece of code, re-run it, and observe the difference in behavior before repeating. In this process, I usually conceptualize code significantly faster (2x-5x) faster than I'm able to type it, which translates to wasted time, where I know what code I want to write, but haven't written it. Now, from a philosophical point of view, I believe that it's possible to have programming tools that allow a 60wpm user to program at the speed of a 120wpm user without those tools (e.g. autocomplete allows you to type 10-character identifiers with significantly fewer keystrokes) - I just haven't finished building them. That is, I believe that having a slow typing speed shouldn't impede programmers, but does with our current tooling.
  - Izkata 5y ago
    > My paltry 50-60wpm doesn't feel like an impediment to putting thoughts into text, but maybe others feel differently. That may be high enough that you don't have the impediment, but when you work with someone who types down around 10-15 WPM... You can definitely tell they're spending a lot of brainpower on hunt-and-peck instead of the problem they're actually trying to solve. Basically there's diminishing returns on increasing WPM and you may be at or past the tipping point. I expect it'll be different not just for different people, but also for whatever they're currently working on.
    - 5y ago
- joe_the_user 5y ago
  It allows for minimal disruption to thinking process, close to 90% of the time even when coding is not actively typing, but when typing is subconscious and fast it removes the potential of where it interrupts the thinking process. This arguments wholly arbitrary. Maybe someone who types slowly will put a lot of thought into each word and create fewer bugs. Who knows? Why argue random claims you pull out of the air?
- bagels 5y ago
  Very early in my career, there was someone on my team that did hunt and peck. It was painfully slow, and definitely impacted their productivity. It was honestly painful to collaborate with with them because of this.
  - a9h74j 5y ago
    > painful to collaborate National Slow Talkers of America https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qvrh73BVraE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qvrh73BVraE
linsomniac 5y ago
Very true for sysadmin. I can type pretty quick, but I developed a habit that when doing risky things I do a "air enter" -- I tap above the enter key, stop and think "am I sure?", before actually pressing enter. It's served me well.
- yjftsjthsd-h 5y ago
  When I'm about to run certain commands - any dd, most database modifications, rm, etc... - I physically lift my hands up away from the keyboard while I reread the command 2-3 times before allowing myself to lower my hands and hit enter. I think the physical cue helps the mental side.

by dmux 5y ago

Sosh101 5y ago

Haha brilliant.

Aperocky 5y ago

playing the devil's advocate, typing speed is important for these reasons: 1. It allows for minimal disruption to thinking process, close to 90% of the time even when coding is not actively typing, but when typing is subconscious and fast it removes the potential of where it interrupts the thinking process. 2. While this has no bearing on individual case (It would be Bayesian, some people consider that to be heretic), but a software engineer who does not type well have a greater chance of having had less practice.

chromanoid 5y ago
Autocomplete makes programming very different from normal typing. I don't need to type fast, I use my keyboard to trigger lists of options that I pick from. Modern programming is a contemplative interaction with the IDE/language server, normal typing should only come into play when you write comments.
- Aperocky 5y ago
  Autocomplete is just a very small subset of modal editing paradigm, the entire editing process, both typing and key shortcuts (i.e. picking options) should be treated as the same.
  - chromanoid 5y ago
    But in this case WPM or similar are completely useless measures. With the right tooling one can pump out an extreme amount of code in a few minutes. It totally depends on the programming language and the available tooling, templates etc. You don't need quick fingers for programming. Depending on the verbosity of the programming language and if it is statically typed you are much faster in pumping out characters.
Dobiasd 5y ago
> 1. It allows for minimal disruption to thinking process, close to 90% of the time even when coding is not actively typing, but when typing is subconscious and fast it removes the potential of where it interrupts the thinking process. I agree, and even wrote an article about that a few years ago. :-) https://github.com/Dobiasd/articles/blob/master/how_touch_typing_and_keyboard_shortcuts_can_improve_the_quality_of_the_software_you_create.md https://github.com/Dobiasd/articles/blob/master/how_touch_ty...
kelseyfrog 5y ago
> It allows for minimal disruption to thinking process Willing to dive into this a bit more? My personal experience is different so I figure this is a chance to learn something new. The subjective character of typing experience for me is like riding a bike, driving a car, walking, or speaking. That is to say that unless I'm mountain biking, off-roading, on a balance beam, or trying to say a tongue twister, for the most part I'm unaware of the intention-execution-results loop, and the intention-results loop is all that consciously exists. My paltry 50-60wpm doesn't feel like an impediment to putting thoughts into text, but maybe others feel differently.
- throw10920 5y ago
  I frequently encounter typing speed as a disruption to my thinking process while developing my personal projects. My personal projects are developed interactively in the REPL - I'll make a few small changes to an existing piece of code, re-run it, and observe the difference in behavior before repeating. In this process, I usually conceptualize code significantly faster (2x-5x) faster than I'm able to type it, which translates to wasted time, where I know what code I want to write, but haven't written it. Now, from a philosophical point of view, I believe that it's possible to have programming tools that allow a 60wpm user to program at the speed of a 120wpm user without those tools (e.g. autocomplete allows you to type 10-character identifiers with significantly fewer keystrokes) - I just haven't finished building them. That is, I believe that having a slow typing speed shouldn't impede programmers, but does with our current tooling.
- Izkata 5y ago
  > My paltry 50-60wpm doesn't feel like an impediment to putting thoughts into text, but maybe others feel differently. That may be high enough that you don't have the impediment, but when you work with someone who types down around 10-15 WPM... You can definitely tell they're spending a lot of brainpower on hunt-and-peck instead of the problem they're actually trying to solve. Basically there's diminishing returns on increasing WPM and you may be at or past the tipping point. I expect it'll be different not just for different people, but also for whatever they're currently working on.
  - 5y ago
joe_the_user 5y ago
It allows for minimal disruption to thinking process, close to 90% of the time even when coding is not actively typing, but when typing is subconscious and fast it removes the potential of where it interrupts the thinking process. This arguments wholly arbitrary. Maybe someone who types slowly will put a lot of thought into each word and create fewer bugs. Who knows? Why argue random claims you pull out of the air?
bagels 5y ago
Very early in my career, there was someone on my team that did hunt and peck. It was painfully slow, and definitely impacted their productivity. It was honestly painful to collaborate with with them because of this.
- a9h74j 5y ago
  > painful to collaborate National Slow Talkers of America https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qvrh73BVraE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qvrh73BVraE

linsomniac 5y ago

Very true for sysadmin. I can type pretty quick, but I developed a habit that when doing risky things I do a "air enter" -- I tap above the enter key, stop and think "am I sure?", before actually pressing enter. It's served me well.

yjftsjthsd-h 5y ago
When I'm about to run certain commands - any dd, most database modifications, rm, etc... - I physically lift my hands up away from the keyboard while I reread the command 2-3 times before allowing myself to lower my hands and hit enter. I think the physical cue helps the mental side.