3 ms·

You are preaching to the choir, I type exclusively using the Workman layout and very old keyboards, but I do it for ergonomic reasons. Fatigue may be involved,

You are preaching to the choir, I type exclusively using the Workman layout and very old keyboards, but I do it for ergonomic reasons. Fatigue may be involved, but I'm not buying the rest of the argument. Most programmers are not touch-typing wizards, some of them still hunt and peck, and a few of them have an issue using a keyboard in the first place. People can adapt, and programming is not a typing competition as I said, it's a thinking and talking one.

eimrine 4y ago
Kudos to old Intel keyboard or similar mechanical, I really want to type on this on a regular basis but most of my work is happening on my laptop. OK, you convinced me that touchtyping is not important when you program. But what about learning? The SICP book contains tens of kilobytes of code which needs to be typed, copypasting of code while learning just doesn't work for me. If I do not do any typos when learning a new programming language, I just do not feel it. But if I need to observe the keyboard while learning than all the learning process goes south because I do typos not because I do not know the language but because I do not know the keyboard. Nothing impossible in doing this without touchtyping but for me this is too annoying. And there is nothing wizardy in learning how to properly press a few tens of buttons, this is not anything creative.
karmakaze 4y ago
This is my experience exactly. I use an alternate layout for comfort as I had hand pains from many years of touch typing. The funny thing I realized when learning a new keyboard layout was that I don't do enough typing at my 8 hours a day job to learn a new layout. I had to use prose practice sites to get up to speed. I think touch-typing is important, but not more important than being interested in what you're trying to do. If trying to learn to type properly detracts from that, it should be learned later.

eimrine 4y ago

Kudos to old Intel keyboard or similar mechanical, I really want to type on this on a regular basis but most of my work is happening on my laptop. OK, you convinced me that touchtyping is not important when you program. But what about learning? The SICP book contains tens of kilobytes of code which needs to be typed, copypasting of code while learning just doesn't work for me. If I do not do any typos when learning a new programming language, I just do not feel it. But if I need to observe the keyboard while learning than all the learning process goes south because I do typos not because I do not know the language but because I do not know the keyboard. Nothing impossible in doing this without touchtyping but for me this is too annoying. And there is nothing wizardy in learning how to properly press a few tens of buttons, this is not anything creative.

karmakaze 4y ago

This is my experience exactly. I use an alternate layout for comfort as I had hand pains from many years of touch typing. The funny thing I realized when learning a new keyboard layout was that I don't do enough typing at my 8 hours a day job to learn a new layout. I had to use prose practice sites to get up to speed. I think touch-typing is important, but not more important than being interested in what you're trying to do. If trying to learn to type properly detracts from that, it should be learned later.