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Show HN: I automated half of my typing

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Re: Show HN: I automated half of my typing

#111

Post by throwaway738393 »

crazygringo wrote: post #42

This is a very clever idea. However, I realize that I would never want to use something like this that would change over time. E.g. if I ran it every 6 months and last year "db" produced "debug", while this year it produces "database". Because talk about messing up my muscle memory and habits. And the language I write changes very much over time. So I'd actually be much more interested in a "universal" version of thi…

> E.g. expanding "t" to "the" seems like a no-brainer, just like "st" to "something". Is there a minimal set of, say, 200-500 of these that could simply be turned into a "standard keyboard" that everyone could learn?

Take a look at Evans Basic English Code, a shorthand system based off of Phillips Code (for telegraphs). It's a little dated, but the most common words are quite useful for writing or typing.

https://archive.org/details/evansbasicenglis00evan

(use the pdf, the txt file is a bad OCR and practically useless)

Also useful:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Most_common_words_in_English

Re: Show HN: I automated half of my typing

#112

Post by algas »

nazgulnarsil wrote: post #110

I trd lrnng t tp lk ths as a shrtr wy f lrnng shrthnd, u cn tr t yrslf. Cms prtt fst.

Strangely, if you use an alt keyboard layout, dropping most of the vowels actually makes it a little less comfortable to type. Coleman and (particularly) Dvorak both put a lot of effort into making common words either alternate hands or roll off your fingers, as well as making the most common letters and vowels very accessible to your fingers. Since this method of typing makes those convenient letters less common, it seems to actually make tpng lk ths a ltl + uncmftbl.

Re: Show HN: I automated half of my typing

#115

Post by nojs »

crazygringo wrote: post #42

This is a very clever idea. However, I realize that I would never want to use something like this that would change over time. E.g. if I ran it every 6 months and last year "db" produced "debug", while this year it produces "database". Because talk about messing up my muscle memory and habits. And the language I write changes very much over time. So I'd actually be much more interested in a "universal" version of thi…

> expanding "t" to "the" seems like a no-brainer, just like "st" to "something"

I have jk mapped to escape in vim, and for a key combo that seems like it should never occur naturally, I’m often surprised how often it misfires when I actually need to type “jk”.

Globally remapping hundreds of things like “t” and “st” would actually be quite frustrating I think.

Like imagine you’re emailing your friend about a trip to st petersburg, or about some code containing the variable t, etc.

Re: Show HN: I automated half of my typing

#119

Post by VectorLock »

albert_e wrote: post #51
habitue wrote: post #49

This seems like a really good way to make it so you have a hard time typing on anyone's computer but your own.

I use a trackball and find it makes me more productive and causes less strain Most other people use a normal mouse Since I also have a lot of muscle memory using normal mice, I am able to quickly adjust to working on a new PC Others struggle when they have to take over my PC and show me something by navigating with my trackball I am guessing this might be similar -- since OP does have years or muscle memory with norm…

Its fun watching mouse users try to use a trackball. I don't like pair programming but when people ask me to I say sure just so I can see them flail with a trackball and Kinesis keyboard.

Re: Show HN: I automated half of my typing

#120

Post by SOLAR_FIELDS »

Exuma wrote: post #98
NateEag wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More or less, yeah. There are different stenography systems, each with their own shortcuts and abbreviations, but at core they're all about producing large volumes of text with minimal physical effort at very high speeds. Those interested should check out http://www.openstenoproject.org/ . A good mechanical keyboard (e.g. the ErgoDox EZ) and Plover mean the only thing standing between you and >200 WPM typing is the t…

I hit this invisible wall at about 165 WPM that I can't just get beyond, and it kills me. I wonder how fast I could get with stenography... I see dem 400 WPM videos and they look awesome.

Curious what kind of work you are doing where WPM is a limiting factor. I’m in software, like a lot of people here, so being able to type in speed is rarely the limiting factor. Besides stenographers, the only other line of work off the top of my head that needs this kind of speed are people who are paid to write subtitles for TV shows and movies in another language. Which I guess is just another form of stenography, when you unwrap it.

Or is it not for work and it’s just purely to see how fast you can type?

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