9 ms·

Typing fast is one of the greatest strengths for programming for me personally, especially when compared with Vim. It's that that it's a limiting factor, but ra

by Exuma 3y ago

Typing fast is one of the greatest strengths for programming for me personally, especially when compared with Vim. It's that that it's a limiting factor, but rather I max out typing quite often, and also I have always wanted to hit 200 just for fun, but it currently feels not attainable. Some people say they spend more time than they do typing, but I definitely don't find that to be the case very often.

SOLAR_FIELDS 3y ago
I am a bit jealous (maybe?) that typing speed is a factor for you. I am the kind of person that will think for minutes at a time before writing a single line of code
- wryanzimmerman 3y ago
  All depends on what you’re doing… sometimes people have to write, like, css.
- Exuma 3y ago
  It's definitely situation dependent. When writing a lot of frontend code (vue, typescript, css, tailwind, html) I know what I'm typing several mental steps before I actually type it, so speed gains there are most pronounced. Sitting somewhere in the middle are dynamic languages where there might be certain implementations (say... some random api integration) where it's simply a lot of code I've typed thousands of times before. This still benefits from fast typing, especially when needing to operate surgically with vim, it's one of the moments I love the most (basically getting 20x combos with perfect typing at high speed when moving/modifying/transforming blocks of text etc etc) What benefits least of the 3 is writing things like Golang where it still definitely helps typing fast, don't get me wrong, but I usually have to think more there. Pace is slower, and symbols can become a pain in the ass. At the end of the day... you're still typing thousands of lines of code regardless of whether you're thinking or not. I never understood the argument "I spend more time thinking than coding". You are still going to write the same amount of code whether you're thinking or not. My ideal world (why I love typing fast) is that that time of me coding gets brought down by 50-200% over someone who types slow. I use that time for accelerating ahead. Ie... prototyping and deleting tons of code before refining/cementing in a design is painless.
  - SOLAR_FIELDS 3y ago
    for me philosophically code is a liability. Every line of code I write is a liability for me and future generations. So I try as hard as I can to not write code at all so it takes me quite a long time to decide to write code. I see it like that in the places I work too, I get paid to decide when it makes sense to write code eg introduce liability to the business
    - Exuma 3y ago
      Interesting perspective. I am a solo developer for all my own companies, and I basically work alone managing a number of high volume businesses. I look at code as "art" oddly enough, and not a liability. I look for elegant solutions that wrap complexity up in the most elegant way possible, and I think a lot of "liability" comes from people not knowing what they want, and not refining features, as opposed to code (at least in the business I work on, it sounds different for you in your case) Edit: Not that "high volume" means anything but I put that there to illustrate there's millions of dollars of liability on the line, not just pet projects or something. It just sounds like a different kind of business I'd guess. Working on a team is definitely something a lot different, that I don't really deal with, nor have much experience with.
      - SOLAR_FIELDS 3y ago
        This perspective makes total sense if you never have to write code that is maintained by someone else or deal with code that some else has written. All of our abstractions make sense to us. We wouldn’t have written them otherwise. But unless we are gods at documentation passing that context off to someone else is hard. It’s very easy to casually dismiss a bunch of code as over engineered by also casually dismissing requirements. By being extremely diligent about what you introduce in terms of code you will save yourself and other engineers hundred of hours down the line (if not thousands) That being said, if you’re a startup who won’t survive without working code and your end users don’t ever see the code you write, who the fuck cares about the 10,000 lines of code you write that would take some other engineer half a month to understand? 10,000 lines of code that make money are worth infinitely more than 10 elegant ones that don’t
- mplanchard 3y ago
  It’s not just writing code though. So much of my time is spent typing, whether in slack, notes, shared documents, or code, that typing speed is a quality of life improvement across the board. When coding, I prefer to spend my thinking time thinking and my typing time typing, so typing fast gives me more time for thinking, makes playing around with little ideas feel easier, and again provides what I feel like is a significant quality of life improvement.
spindle 3y ago
> It's that that Made me laugh, given the topic!
- Exuma 3y ago
  Yes that's hilarious, I noticed that.
dotancohen 3y ago
What keyboard are you using? If you have a good, ergonomic desk (required prerequisite), then try the Matias Ergo Pro. It is the most comfortable keyboard I've ever typed on, and I've owned literally dozens of mechanical, ergonomic, split, and specialty keyboards. Just be aware that the build quality is terrible. I had two Matias keyboards, neither lasted a year... And I type lightly, preferring 35 gram keys. At $250 each it is quite the investment. But, honestly, they are worth the price. They are _that_ comfortable. Yes, I am a heavy VIM and bash user. I'm sure that some days I do not touch the mouse at all.
- Exuma 3y ago
  I'm using the latest MBP keyboard which is an insane upgrade over the previous. For some reason I think working on a 16" laptop is much better for speed and efficiency than huge desktops, it's like the keyboard and screen is a direct extension of my mind rather than the feeling of writing while holding a pen with gloves on.

by Exuma 3y ago

SOLAR_FIELDS 3y ago

I am a bit jealous (maybe?) that typing speed is a factor for you. I am the kind of person that will think for minutes at a time before writing a single line of code

wryanzimmerman 3y ago
All depends on what you’re doing… sometimes people have to write, like, css.
Exuma 3y ago
It's definitely situation dependent. When writing a lot of frontend code (vue, typescript, css, tailwind, html) I know what I'm typing several mental steps before I actually type it, so speed gains there are most pronounced. Sitting somewhere in the middle are dynamic languages where there might be certain implementations (say... some random api integration) where it's simply a lot of code I've typed thousands of times before. This still benefits from fast typing, especially when needing to operate surgically with vim, it's one of the moments I love the most (basically getting 20x combos with perfect typing at high speed when moving/modifying/transforming blocks of text etc etc) What benefits least of the 3 is writing things like Golang where it still definitely helps typing fast, don't get me wrong, but I usually have to think more there. Pace is slower, and symbols can become a pain in the ass. At the end of the day... you're still typing thousands of lines of code regardless of whether you're thinking or not. I never understood the argument "I spend more time thinking than coding". You are still going to write the same amount of code whether you're thinking or not. My ideal world (why I love typing fast) is that that time of me coding gets brought down by 50-200% over someone who types slow. I use that time for accelerating ahead. Ie... prototyping and deleting tons of code before refining/cementing in a design is painless.
- SOLAR_FIELDS 3y ago
  for me philosophically code is a liability. Every line of code I write is a liability for me and future generations. So I try as hard as I can to not write code at all so it takes me quite a long time to decide to write code. I see it like that in the places I work too, I get paid to decide when it makes sense to write code eg introduce liability to the business
  - Exuma 3y ago
    Interesting perspective. I am a solo developer for all my own companies, and I basically work alone managing a number of high volume businesses. I look at code as "art" oddly enough, and not a liability. I look for elegant solutions that wrap complexity up in the most elegant way possible, and I think a lot of "liability" comes from people not knowing what they want, and not refining features, as opposed to code (at least in the business I work on, it sounds different for you in your case) Edit: Not that "high volume" means anything but I put that there to illustrate there's millions of dollars of liability on the line, not just pet projects or something. It just sounds like a different kind of business I'd guess. Working on a team is definitely something a lot different, that I don't really deal with, nor have much experience with.
    - SOLAR_FIELDS 3y ago
      This perspective makes total sense if you never have to write code that is maintained by someone else or deal with code that some else has written. All of our abstractions make sense to us. We wouldn’t have written them otherwise. But unless we are gods at documentation passing that context off to someone else is hard. It’s very easy to casually dismiss a bunch of code as over engineered by also casually dismissing requirements. By being extremely diligent about what you introduce in terms of code you will save yourself and other engineers hundred of hours down the line (if not thousands) That being said, if you’re a startup who won’t survive without working code and your end users don’t ever see the code you write, who the fuck cares about the 10,000 lines of code you write that would take some other engineer half a month to understand? 10,000 lines of code that make money are worth infinitely more than 10 elegant ones that don’t
mplanchard 3y ago
It’s not just writing code though. So much of my time is spent typing, whether in slack, notes, shared documents, or code, that typing speed is a quality of life improvement across the board. When coding, I prefer to spend my thinking time thinking and my typing time typing, so typing fast gives me more time for thinking, makes playing around with little ideas feel easier, and again provides what I feel like is a significant quality of life improvement.

spindle 3y ago

> It's that that Made me laugh, given the topic!

Exuma 3y ago
Yes that's hilarious, I noticed that.

dotancohen 3y ago

What keyboard are you using? If you have a good, ergonomic desk (required prerequisite), then try the Matias Ergo Pro. It is the most comfortable keyboard I've ever typed on, and I've owned literally dozens of mechanical, ergonomic, split, and specialty keyboards. Just be aware that the build quality is terrible. I had two Matias keyboards, neither lasted a year... And I type lightly, preferring 35 gram keys. At $250 each it is quite the investment. But, honestly, they are worth the price. They are _that_ comfortable. Yes, I am a heavy VIM and bash user. I'm sure that some days I do not touch the mouse at all.

Exuma 3y ago
I'm using the latest MBP keyboard which is an insane upgrade over the previous. For some reason I think working on a 16" laptop is much better for speed and efficiency than huge desktops, it's like the keyboard and screen is a direct extension of my mind rather than the feeling of writing while holding a pen with gloves on.