4 ms·

Learning to type quickly is a valuable skill. But with programming, is typing speed a common bottleneck? It seems akin to learning how to turn a steering wheel

Learning to type quickly is a valuable skill. But with programming, is typing speed a common bottleneck? It seems akin to learning how to turn a steering wheel more quickly or how to hammer faster.

ics 13y ago
I think it really depends on your process. If you're efficiently pragmatic, then maybe your work environment includes an IDE with tab-completion, project skeletons, lots of snippets, and plenty of experience tying together existing frameworks and other tech to achieve your goal. On the other hand, some people actually want to do that sort of dirty work (even in verbose environments) because they get an overview of every single thing that's going into their program as they build it. They'll be a little slower than the first person but potentially have a much better grip on the underlying architecture of what they're working on which is incredibly valuable as you move forward and make decisions. So for these people, faster rote typing could be beneficial.
- ics 13y ago
  Too late to edit, but if anyone reads this comment later please also see this post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6908248 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6908248 There's a neat part of the article that might better demonstrate what I'm talking about. --- > Because I was young, super-anal, and wasn't on SSRIs back then, I once asked Carmack why he didn't use libraries for common functions that he could share between engine revisions. Carmack's a super-nice guy, but on this one instance he used the "Well, I think my methods work pretty well..." defense. I never suggested coding style changes again. > But, really, for him it made no sense to share code, because, like a bee, it was just as fast to write new code. The template was in his head, he types really REALLY fast—why bother importing something? > Don't take this to mean his code was spaghetti—it was actually some of the easiest-to-understand code I've ever worked with. It has an almost indescribable quality of "obviousness." Like, you know when a really good teacher explains something, it seems obvious? That's what his code was like. I mean, OF COURSE there's a loop where you service the pending events and call a refresh on the UI layer.
cedias 13y ago
I do agree with you speed typing might not be the most valuable skill to a programmer. Being able to type without a lot of typos is a lot more usefull since they can create hard to find bugs.
the_af 13y ago
Typing speed is rarely (I was going to say "never") the bottleneck, IDE or no IDE. The bottleneck in programming lies in designing something that works correctly, understanding someone else's design or legacy code, designing test cases, debugging problems, addressing performance issues. It is a brain-bound problem, unrelated to motor skills. I have never thought "this project would have succeeded if only everyone on the team had been a faster typist!"
kevinkyyro 13y ago
Slow typing can be very tedious while pair programming, though the tedium is also a function of anxiety and patience.
- the_af 13y ago
  I admit I'm a terrible pair programmer, so my experience may not be representative, and while I sometimes get frustrated when the person with the keyboard fails to hit the right keys (and to be fair this person is sometimes me!), almost always the main source of frustration is when can't agree on something or when one repeatedly misunderstands the other. On the other hand, when we are on the same page, slow typing is seldom a problem.
  - kevinkyyro 13y ago
    hah, i guess i should mention that i am bad at leading because of my own slow typing annoying myself
DennisP 13y ago
I've known people to make the same argument against learning a good text editor. My reply in either case is the same: maybe I spend more time thinking, but being able to quickly turn my thoughts into code helps me stay in flow, so I keep thinking, instead of getting bored and checking out what's on reddit and HN.

Learning to type quickly is a valuable skill. But with programming, is typing speed a common bottleneck? It seems akin to learning how to turn a steering wheel more quickly or how to hammer faster.

ics 13y ago

I think it really depends on your process. If you're efficiently pragmatic, then maybe your work environment includes an IDE with tab-completion, project skeletons, lots of snippets, and plenty of experience tying together existing frameworks and other tech to achieve your goal. On the other hand, some people actually want to do that sort of dirty work (even in verbose environments) because they get an overview of every single thing that's going into their program as they build it. They'll be a little slower than the first person but potentially have a much better grip on the underlying architecture of what they're working on which is incredibly valuable as you move forward and make decisions. So for these people, faster rote typing could be beneficial.

ics 13y ago
Too late to edit, but if anyone reads this comment later please also see this post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6908248 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6908248 There's a neat part of the article that might better demonstrate what I'm talking about. --- > Because I was young, super-anal, and wasn't on SSRIs back then, I once asked Carmack why he didn't use libraries for common functions that he could share between engine revisions. Carmack's a super-nice guy, but on this one instance he used the "Well, I think my methods work pretty well..." defense. I never suggested coding style changes again. > But, really, for him it made no sense to share code, because, like a bee, it was just as fast to write new code. The template was in his head, he types really REALLY fast—why bother importing something? > Don't take this to mean his code was spaghetti—it was actually some of the easiest-to-understand code I've ever worked with. It has an almost indescribable quality of "obviousness." Like, you know when a really good teacher explains something, it seems obvious? That's what his code was like. I mean, OF COURSE there's a loop where you service the pending events and call a refresh on the UI layer.

cedias 13y ago

I do agree with you speed typing might not be the most valuable skill to a programmer. Being able to type without a lot of typos is a lot more usefull since they can create hard to find bugs.

the_af 13y ago

Typing speed is rarely (I was going to say "never") the bottleneck, IDE or no IDE. The bottleneck in programming lies in designing something that works correctly, understanding someone else's design or legacy code, designing test cases, debugging problems, addressing performance issues. It is a brain-bound problem, unrelated to motor skills. I have never thought "this project would have succeeded if only everyone on the team had been a faster typist!"

kevinkyyro 13y ago

Slow typing can be very tedious while pair programming, though the tedium is also a function of anxiety and patience.

the_af 13y ago
I admit I'm a terrible pair programmer, so my experience may not be representative, and while I sometimes get frustrated when the person with the keyboard fails to hit the right keys (and to be fair this person is sometimes me!), almost always the main source of frustration is when can't agree on something or when one repeatedly misunderstands the other. On the other hand, when we are on the same page, slow typing is seldom a problem.
- kevinkyyro 13y ago
  hah, i guess i should mention that i am bad at leading because of my own slow typing annoying myself

DennisP 13y ago

I've known people to make the same argument against learning a good text editor. My reply in either case is the same: maybe I spend more time thinking, but being able to quickly turn my thoughts into code helps me stay in flow, so I keep thinking, instead of getting bored and checking out what's on reddit and HN.