3 ms·

Shared with two friends in chat and said, "prepare to be challenged." Their responses: "Two seconds in and I'm pissed." and "This is infuriating" So congra

by weisser 14y ago

Shared with two friends in chat and said, "prepare to be challenged." Their responses: "Two seconds in and I'm pissed." and "This is infuriating" So congratulations? These are both people that do extensive amounts of work on the computer but none of it involves copying quickly. For me, I'm a bit curious why words per minute matters for people. It seems like the only time typing so quickly matters is when you are copying things down (written or spoken). Don't you think it is only a matter of time before no one will have to copy something down into text format manually ever again? I have little knowledge about how the brain works when copying information but it seems that when someone is working hard to quickly copy something down they are not analyzing the meaning of the content nearly as well as if they were sitting and listening. It seems like time could be better spent. I still think this is an interesting site. I would love to improve my typing accuracy.

ZaneClaes 14y ago
Hahaha :) Re: copying... I'm not sure that there's really a necessary distinction between copying input and simply being able to type fast. In this scenario, yes, you're simply copying input; for that reason I added a 800 ms delay to allow the brain to process the word before the variable timer is enabled, so ultimately what's being tested is your ability to write what is in your brain already. That said, I do acknowledge that WPM is not necessarily the best gauge of efficiency. I'm a programmer, and I'm not sure exactly how WPM relates to my work (I'd be curious to see a study) since much of what I type is "nonsense" words to begin with, and WPM is largely a function of your ability to habitually reproduce the same character sets (aka, common words in your given language).
intended 14y ago
>I have little knowledge about how the brain works when copying information but it seems that when someone is working hard to quickly copy something down they are not analyzing the meaning of the content nearly as well as if they were sitting and listening. It seems like time could be better spent. Once you get fast and accurate enough - you've built into yourself the buffer space to be able to spend time on understanding. Plus its always a neat ability to have. Especially being accurate. Making spelling mistakes and having to press backspace is infuriating.

by weisser 14y ago

ZaneClaes 14y ago

Hahaha :) Re: copying... I'm not sure that there's really a necessary distinction between copying input and simply being able to type fast. In this scenario, yes, you're simply copying input; for that reason I added a 800 ms delay to allow the brain to process the word before the variable timer is enabled, so ultimately what's being tested is your ability to write what is in your brain already. That said, I do acknowledge that WPM is not necessarily the best gauge of efficiency. I'm a programmer, and I'm not sure exactly how WPM relates to my work (I'd be curious to see a study) since much of what I type is "nonsense" words to begin with, and WPM is largely a function of your ability to habitually reproduce the same character sets (aka, common words in your given language).

intended 14y ago

>I have little knowledge about how the brain works when copying information but it seems that when someone is working hard to quickly copy something down they are not analyzing the meaning of the content nearly as well as if they were sitting and listening. It seems like time could be better spent. Once you get fast and accurate enough - you've built into yourself the buffer space to be able to spend time on understanding. Plus its always a neat ability to have. Especially being accurate. Making spelling mistakes and having to press backspace is infuriating.