4 ms·

Learn to type before you learn to code

12 points by hvd 13y ago

duiker101 13y ago
I would like to disagree. While it might be true that being good at typing can help and certainly doesn't hurt I don't think it is a requirement. Also being slow at typing will make you think twice at what you are writing, which is good! Personally I learnt to type properly only finding my first full time job!
- hayksaakian 13y ago
  it seems like many people who don't like what you said pressed the down-arrow as though it were a disagree button. I personally agree with this comment, my typing speed is not the limiting factor in my ability to turn out good programs.
- cl8ton 13y ago
  I used to type extremely fast but over the years I developed nerve damage in my left hand from what docs told me was bad posture and bad keyboards. 5 years ago I switched to a split keyboard and now type half as fast but surprisingly I’m more efficient.
hvd 13y ago
Point noted duiker101, I think though typing well is a discipline in itself and enhances dev productivity. I think there was a post by Steve Yegge a few years back on learning to type http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2008/09/programmings-dirtiest-little-secret.html http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2008/09/programmings-dirties...
j45 13y ago
I've found typing faster means thinking faster, reading faster, comprehending faster, developing faster, debugging faster and generally getting things done faster.
joshontheweb 13y ago
I cheated my way through the typing classes in Computer Lit and couldn't touch type for a long time after I was coding professionally. Eventually I felt a bit ridiculous about it and bought a Das Keyboard Ultimate. I never did exercises or anything, just committed to typing on that keyboard at work. After a couple of weeks I was typing faster than ever without looking. One of the better investments I've made.
zebra 13y ago
Question to any touch typist who codes: how do you cope with all the special characters: (){}[];:'`!@#$% ? Do they slow you or make you leave the home row?
- eaurouge 13y ago
  You should be able to touch-type all those keys. The braces and square brackets may take some getting used. I find these characters to be the toughest: |+= I have to really stretch my right pinky to reach those keys; slows me down and impacts my accuracy.
ahp 13y ago
I disagree. Typing is boring, coding is fun. Learn to type by learning to code.
- dkersten 13y ago
  You don't automatically learn to type by learning to code, though. You have to make a conscious effort to learn to type. I was coding for years before I eventually decided to take the plunge and learn to touch type.
hvd 13y ago
Yes my technique improved after i purchased a kinesis advantage split keyboard which forced me to separate hands, Now with gtypist drills I am much better on regular ones as well. Great to know learning to type has worked well for you @joshontheweb & @j45
tasoeur 13y ago
The way you type is not related to the way you think, and therefore code. I must say extensive computer use (and mainly coding) is what made me type fast & accurately enough (according to the various tests found on this blog post). Knowing how to talk in a foreign language will help you write better in this same language. I'm not sure that such an analogy can be drawn from typing/coding. I know some dyslexic people coding pretty well and I'd say that most of the time it's a problem of accuracy.
jjsz 13y ago
I felt this was a subliminal advertisement for Ratatype so I tried it out. Not many people use it: I got placed 4 / 75 with these mediocre stats: http://imgur.com/ikSxiSE http://imgur.com/ikSxiSE I suggest to add some WPM time visualization and a shortcut for restarting. Thank you, it was fun.
- AdamFort 13y ago
  90 wpm is far above the average.
kstenerud 13y ago
Meh. You don't need to type that fast to write software. You'll spend far more time designing your program than you will actually typing on the keyboard.
billyjobob 13y ago
If you are a non-typist and you are going to learn to type you should learn Dvorak or Colemak. For anyone who already knows Qwerty it isn't worth the time to re-train, but if you don't know any layout yet it's a good opportunity to chose an optimal one.
- dkersten 13y ago
  Agreed - this is what I did. I didn't know how to type properly for a long time, so when I finally decided to learn to type, I had the same thought: learn to type using something that's actually designed for typists. I looked at a few layouts: Dvorak, Colemak and fully optimised QFMLWY. I chose Colemak because QFMLWY takes too much effort to install (Colemak is supported in Linux and OSX out of the box and is easy to install on Windows) and Dvorak, while an improvement over QWERTY, still seemed archaic to me (having been created before computers). I absolutely love Colemak - it does exactly what it advertised to do. Its very comfortable, alternating hands a lot and moving the most used keys to strong fingers and easy to type keys. I'm also often amazed by how much I can type with just the home row (in fact, I have a cheapo laptop with a cheapo keyboard that i use and the home row keys are most worn of all, except maybe that one spot on the space bar). Of course, since I never touch typed qwerty, I can't compare. For learning, I used a blank DAS keyboard. Took about two weeks of pain, but I feel the blank keys really helped force me not to look at the keyboard. Now I don't care about key markings and happily use qwerty markings on my Colemak keyboards.
shalmanese 13y ago
Jeff Atwood wrote something similar about this: http://blog.codinghorror.com/we-are-typists-first-programmers-second/ http://blog.codinghorror.com/we-are-typists-first-programmer...
AdamFort 13y ago
Great thing. Pass a test at http://www.ratatype.com/typing-test/ http://www.ratatype.com/typing-test/ and print a typing certificate, put in CV.

12 points by hvd 13y ago

I would like to disagree. While it might be true that being good at typing can help and certainly doesn't hurt I don't think it is a requirement. Also being slow at typing will make you think twice at what you are writing, which is good! Personally I learnt to type properly only finding my first full time job!

hayksaakian 13y ago
it seems like many people who don't like what you said pressed the down-arrow as though it were a disagree button. I personally agree with this comment, my typing speed is not the limiting factor in my ability to turn out good programs.
cl8ton 13y ago
I used to type extremely fast but over the years I developed nerve damage in my left hand from what docs told me was bad posture and bad keyboards. 5 years ago I switched to a split keyboard and now type half as fast but surprisingly I’m more efficient.

hvd 13y ago

Point noted duiker101, I think though typing well is a discipline in itself and enhances dev productivity. I think there was a post by Steve Yegge a few years back on learning to type http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2008/09/programmings-dirtiest-little-secret.html http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2008/09/programmings-dirties...

j45 13y ago

I've found typing faster means thinking faster, reading faster, comprehending faster, developing faster, debugging faster and generally getting things done faster.

joshontheweb 13y ago

I cheated my way through the typing classes in Computer Lit and couldn't touch type for a long time after I was coding professionally. Eventually I felt a bit ridiculous about it and bought a Das Keyboard Ultimate. I never did exercises or anything, just committed to typing on that keyboard at work. After a couple of weeks I was typing faster than ever without looking. One of the better investments I've made.

zebra 13y ago

Question to any touch typist who codes: how do you cope with all the special characters: (){}[];:'`!@#$% ? Do they slow you or make you leave the home row?

eaurouge 13y ago
You should be able to touch-type all those keys. The braces and square brackets may take some getting used. I find these characters to be the toughest: |+= I have to really stretch my right pinky to reach those keys; slows me down and impacts my accuracy.

ahp 13y ago

I disagree. Typing is boring, coding is fun. Learn to type by learning to code.

dkersten 13y ago
You don't automatically learn to type by learning to code, though. You have to make a conscious effort to learn to type. I was coding for years before I eventually decided to take the plunge and learn to touch type.

hvd 13y ago

Yes my technique improved after i purchased a kinesis advantage split keyboard which forced me to separate hands, Now with gtypist drills I am much better on regular ones as well. Great to know learning to type has worked well for you @joshontheweb & @j45

tasoeur 13y ago

The way you type is not related to the way you think, and therefore code. I must say extensive computer use (and mainly coding) is what made me type fast & accurately enough (according to the various tests found on this blog post). Knowing how to talk in a foreign language will help you write better in this same language. I'm not sure that such an analogy can be drawn from typing/coding. I know some dyslexic people coding pretty well and I'd say that most of the time it's a problem of accuracy.

jjsz 13y ago

I felt this was a subliminal advertisement for Ratatype so I tried it out. Not many people use it: I got placed 4 / 75 with these mediocre stats: http://imgur.com/ikSxiSE http://imgur.com/ikSxiSE I suggest to add some WPM time visualization and a shortcut for restarting. Thank you, it was fun.

AdamFort 13y ago
90 wpm is far above the average.

kstenerud 13y ago

Meh. You don't need to type that fast to write software. You'll spend far more time designing your program than you will actually typing on the keyboard.

billyjobob 13y ago

If you are a non-typist and you are going to learn to type you should learn Dvorak or Colemak. For anyone who already knows Qwerty it isn't worth the time to re-train, but if you don't know any layout yet it's a good opportunity to chose an optimal one.

dkersten 13y ago
Agreed - this is what I did. I didn't know how to type properly for a long time, so when I finally decided to learn to type, I had the same thought: learn to type using something that's actually designed for typists. I looked at a few layouts: Dvorak, Colemak and fully optimised QFMLWY. I chose Colemak because QFMLWY takes too much effort to install (Colemak is supported in Linux and OSX out of the box and is easy to install on Windows) and Dvorak, while an improvement over QWERTY, still seemed archaic to me (having been created before computers). I absolutely love Colemak - it does exactly what it advertised to do. Its very comfortable, alternating hands a lot and moving the most used keys to strong fingers and easy to type keys. I'm also often amazed by how much I can type with just the home row (in fact, I have a cheapo laptop with a cheapo keyboard that i use and the home row keys are most worn of all, except maybe that one spot on the space bar). Of course, since I never touch typed qwerty, I can't compare. For learning, I used a blank DAS keyboard. Took about two weeks of pain, but I feel the blank keys really helped force me not to look at the keyboard. Now I don't care about key markings and happily use qwerty markings on my Colemak keyboards.

shalmanese 13y ago

Jeff Atwood wrote something similar about this: http://blog.codinghorror.com/we-are-typists-first-programmers-second/ http://blog.codinghorror.com/we-are-typists-first-programmer...

AdamFort 13y ago

Great thing. Pass a test at http://www.ratatype.com/typing-test/ http://www.ratatype.com/typing-test/ and print a typing certificate, put in CV.