Many of the most productive programmers (in terms of text editing ability) I know are heavy mouse users. Watching them work really opened my eyes and taught me

Many of the most productive programmers (in terms of text editing ability) I know are heavy mouse users. Watching them work really opened my eyes and taught me a few good habits. One of the skills that you have to develop is the ability to hit very precise targets with the mouse very quickly. I think that a lot of people are simply inexpert with the mouse and misclick a lot, and that adds to the perceived cost of the mouse in their head. But I assure you that if you can reliably hit targets with your mouse it will unlock productivity doors for you. Want to rename an identifier? Double click it with the right hand, Ctrl-<replace> with the left, tab with left to proper position in dialog while right hand is returning to home, type replacement, hit enter a few times. Adding a prefix to a bunch of strings? Click-drag to select the prefix while hitting Ctrl-C (stretching the pinky to reach the Ctrl takes about as much time as the entire click-drag), click click click on all the places you need it to go, timing the clicks with Ctrl-V on the left hand, scrolling with the wheel as needed. Very, very fast. I suppose that describing it doesn't do it justice; I certainly wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes repeatedly.