4 ms·

My typing speed is about 75 wpm, which probably sucks by HN standards. I don't type nearly as fast as I think. When I'm writing Java code, I find that my typin

My typing speed is about 75 wpm, which probably sucks by HN standards. I don't type nearly as fast as I think. When I'm writing Java code, I find that my typing speed is often a bottleneck. In Ocaml or Lisp, it never is.

djb 18y ago
"SQL, Lisp, and Haskell are the only programming languages that I've seen where one spends more time thinking than typing." —Philip Greenspun, http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/philg/2005/03/07/how-long-is-the-average-internet-discussion-forum-posting/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/philg/2005/03/07/how-long-is-th...
- Xichekolas 18y ago
  While I'd agree with Lisp and Haskell, I not sure how SQL could be considered that dense. I often find myself frustrated that a split second thought takes so long to express as a query, and I type a decent 80wpm or so.
  - henning 18y ago
    I always assumed he was referring to complicated ad-hoc queries that involve all kinds of joins and so forth. If I understand you correctly, yes, typing "select ... from ... where id = ..." would get old very fast.
    - Xichekolas 18y ago
      Well I was actually talking about writing queries that involve a join or two. Thinking to myself "I can get this by grabbing all these via joining on that where x = y" doesn't take very long, but typing that out can be annoying if you do it often enough. Of course, if you are constantly writing 8-way joins with fun things like group_concat in the select clause, I guess it would require a little more thought than typing. Also, I'd imagine the people that spend their days writing stored procedures, triggers, and the like spend more time thinking than typing, but I can't claim to be one of those people.
cglee 18y ago
I find that when I'm doing Java, I'm not thinking or typing as much as I am hitting ctrl-space for the IDE to autocomplete superLongMethodNamesFactoryStubHome(). In Ruby, it seems I think and type in equal parts.
- deleted 18y ago
  [deleted]
- mhartl 18y ago
  I remapped my Escape key to a more convenient place on my keyboard (it's a thumb key now); as a result, when I write Ruby code in TextMate, half of it appears virtually instantaneously. The downside? Sometimes accidentally pressing Escape when typing anywhere else. D'oh!
  - LogicHoleFlaw 18y ago
    I keep threatening to get two foot pedals. One for CTRL and one for ESC. I think it would give me vim superpowers.
    - scott_s 18y ago
      That's the best idea I've ever heard.
    - mechanical_fish 18y ago
      I have a pedal for my Kinesis keyboard, but I almost never use it. When I do use it it's for something like num lock... I tried it for Emacs ctrl and/or meta but it didn't work well. The big problem is that I don't keep my feet frozen in one spot for hours, so when I go to press the pedal I have to find the darn thing by feeling around with my feet. You don't have to lose much time doing this before the point of the pedal is lost. I could try to train myself to keep my feet in one spot. But I fear the ergonomic consequences. I have enough trouble with the need to keep my hands in the same spot for hours on end... Maybe I need much bigger pedals. Or special shoes...
cousin_it 18y ago
I'm reminded of some K guy (Stevan Apter?) posting working code to the newsgroup from a WebTV. The language is that terse. 1 line of code == 1 page of explanations.

djb 18y ago

"SQL, Lisp, and Haskell are the only programming languages that I've seen where one spends more time thinking than typing." —Philip Greenspun, http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/philg/2005/03/07/how-long-is-the-average-internet-discussion-forum-posting/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/philg/2005/03/07/how-long-is-th...

Xichekolas 18y ago
While I'd agree with Lisp and Haskell, I not sure how SQL could be considered that dense. I often find myself frustrated that a split second thought takes so long to express as a query, and I type a decent 80wpm or so.
- henning 18y ago
  I always assumed he was referring to complicated ad-hoc queries that involve all kinds of joins and so forth. If I understand you correctly, yes, typing "select ... from ... where id = ..." would get old very fast.
  - Xichekolas 18y ago
    Well I was actually talking about writing queries that involve a join or two. Thinking to myself "I can get this by grabbing all these via joining on that where x = y" doesn't take very long, but typing that out can be annoying if you do it often enough. Of course, if you are constantly writing 8-way joins with fun things like group_concat in the select clause, I guess it would require a little more thought than typing. Also, I'd imagine the people that spend their days writing stored procedures, triggers, and the like spend more time thinking than typing, but I can't claim to be one of those people.

cglee 18y ago

I find that when I'm doing Java, I'm not thinking or typing as much as I am hitting ctrl-space for the IDE to autocomplete superLongMethodNamesFactoryStubHome(). In Ruby, it seems I think and type in equal parts.

deleted 18y ago
[deleted]
mhartl 18y ago
I remapped my Escape key to a more convenient place on my keyboard (it's a thumb key now); as a result, when I write Ruby code in TextMate, half of it appears virtually instantaneously. The downside? Sometimes accidentally pressing Escape when typing anywhere else. D'oh!
- LogicHoleFlaw 18y ago
  I keep threatening to get two foot pedals. One for CTRL and one for ESC. I think it would give me vim superpowers.
  - scott_s 18y ago
    That's the best idea I've ever heard.
  - mechanical_fish 18y ago
    I have a pedal for my Kinesis keyboard, but I almost never use it. When I do use it it's for something like num lock... I tried it for Emacs ctrl and/or meta but it didn't work well. The big problem is that I don't keep my feet frozen in one spot for hours, so when I go to press the pedal I have to find the darn thing by feeling around with my feet. You don't have to lose much time doing this before the point of the pedal is lost. I could try to train myself to keep my feet in one spot. But I fear the ergonomic consequences. I have enough trouble with the need to keep my hands in the same spot for hours on end... Maybe I need much bigger pedals. Or special shoes...

cousin_it 18y ago

I'm reminded of some K guy (Stevan Apter?) posting working code to the newsgroup from a WebTV. The language is that terse. 1 line of code == 1 page of explanations.