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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

#171

Post by penteract »

Exuma wrote: post #145
SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am a bit jealous (maybe?) that typing speed is a factor for you. I am the kind of person that will think for minutes at a time before writing a single line of code

It's definitely situation dependent. When writing a lot of frontend code (vue, typescript, css, tailwind, html) I know what I'm typing several mental steps before I actually type it, so speed gains there are most pronounced. Sitting somewhere in the middle are dynamic languages where there might be certain implementations (say... some random api integration) where it's simply a lot of code I've typed thousands of tim…

> I never understood the argument "I spend more time thinking than coding". You are still going to write the same amount of code whether you're thinking or not. My ideal world (why I love typing fast) is that that time of me coding gets brought down by 50-200% over someone who types slow.

My perspective on this (I'm not a fast typist, but don't feel it's a big limitation) is that I can think while typing, so if I can type at least as fast as I can plan the next bit of code, there isn't any benefit to typing faster.

Of course, that isn't the complete picture, and I wouldn't be surprised if typing out less concrete thoughts (which might mean the same as when you say "prototyping and deleting tons of code") might improve my code or speed me up in plenty of situations. It's also possible there are things I avoid more than I should (such as writing short programs to see how some interface behaves) because I'm too slow at typing.

Re: Show HN: I automated half of my typing

#173

Post by Exuma »

penteract wrote: post #171
Exuma wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's definitely situation dependent. When writing a lot of frontend code (vue, typescript, css, tailwind, html) I know what I'm typing several mental steps before I actually type it, so speed gains there are most pronounced. Sitting somewhere in the middle are dynamic languages where there might be certain implementations (say... some random api integration) where it's simply a lot of code I've typed thousands of tim…

> I never understood the argument "I spend more time thinking than coding". You are still going to write the same amount of code whether you're thinking or not. My ideal world (why I love typing fast) is that that time of me coding gets brought down by 50-200% over someone who types slow. My perspective on this (I'm not a fast typist, but don't feel it's a big limitation) is that I can think while typing, so if I can…

I don't know how it is working on large teams, but for my daily work working alone I usually write maybe 10-15 emails, I issue a dozen or more commits, I outline specs (a vague word I'm using which could mean writing documentation, writing technical explanations to clients, writing comments, commits, boilerplate, talking about technical things to my peers via chat).

The entire technical burden of all things fall on me, so I suspect I'm editing code a good 6-8 hours of the day, and the other 3-4 hours at the computer are spent communicating of some form. I wish I knew how many words I typed per day but it must be seriously 10's of thousands. Maybe 5000-15,000 depending on the day. Now I imagine doing that.......... 3 times slower. That gives me excrutiating physical pain.

If I sat in a vaccum, with no outside communication, and nothing else dependent on me whatsoever, and I was basically given a single task to produce a 50 line file by the end of the day, and the other 7 hours was spent deep in thought, then i could see typing not being important.

Re: Show HN: I automated half of my typing

#174

Post by Exuma »

Vicinity9635 wrote: post #161
Exuma wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

One thing I would check out is short key travel distance. I love my Bloody B975, but I know I type faster on both my Apple keyboard and especially the Magic Keyboard Folio just because of the super short travel. I can hit 80-90sh on the gaming keyboard, but I'm probably at least tickling 120 the iPad.

The newest macbook pro is 10/10 for me on typing speed. By far the best keyboard ive ever used.

Re: Show HN: I automated half of my typing

#175

Post by ideasman42 »

The down side of this is you have to remember them, for some time now I've been writing with n-gram auto-completion based on a large body of text (including code-comments for projects I work on), see https://codeberg.org/ideasman42/emacs-mono-complete

I have it configured to be enabled when typing in code-comments or commit logs & it often gives helpful suggestions.

Re: Show HN: I automated half of my typing

#176

Post by rgoulter »

xormapmap wrote: post #157

While this is a cool idea, is typing speed really the bottleneck for anyone who uses a keyboard for a living?

More precisely, is the effort spent on improving typing speed beneficial for the cost put in?

Typing faster is always going to be a benefit.

I think it would be too much effort for most people to get to 150wpm, or to learn stenography.

But, on the other hand, if people are typing 30wpm, they would benefit from training to improve their typing speed.

Re: Show HN: I automated half of my typing

#177

Post by Exuma »

penteract wrote: post #171
Exuma wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's definitely situation dependent. When writing a lot of frontend code (vue, typescript, css, tailwind, html) I know what I'm typing several mental steps before I actually type it, so speed gains there are most pronounced. Sitting somewhere in the middle are dynamic languages where there might be certain implementations (say... some random api integration) where it's simply a lot of code I've typed thousands of tim…

> I never understood the argument "I spend more time thinking than coding". You are still going to write the same amount of code whether you're thinking or not. My ideal world (why I love typing fast) is that that time of me coding gets brought down by 50-200% over someone who types slow. My perspective on this (I'm not a fast typist, but don't feel it's a big limitation) is that I can think while typing, so if I can…

If you want my unsolicited 2 cents to help speed up (if you care!)

1. put your fingers on home row keys with pointer fingers feeling the bumps on F and J

2. DONT move your wrists all around, try to keep them still and let your fingers do all the work. try to keep your entire palms as still as possible, they really shouldnt move. I rest mine on my laptop surface.

3. dont look at the keys. use https://www.typing.com to help you if you cant do that

4. relax your hands as much as possible

Typing.com is better IMO if you don't know how to type fast, and monkeytype.com is way more fun when you do (the interface is just way more fun)

Re: Show HN: I automated half of my typing

#178

Post by penteract »

Exuma wrote: post #173
penteract wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I never understood the argument "I spend more time thinking than coding". You are still going to write the same amount of code whether you're thinking or not. My ideal world (why I love typing fast) is that that time of me coding gets brought down by 50-200% over someone who types slow. My perspective on this (I'm not a fast typist, but don't feel it's a big limitation) is that I can think while typing, so if I can…

I don't know how it is working on large teams, but for my daily work working alone I usually write maybe 10-15 emails, I issue a dozen or more commits, I outline specs (a vague word I'm using which could mean writing documentation, writing technical explanations to clients, writing comments, commits, boilerplate, talking about technical things to my peers via chat). The entire technical burden of all things fall on m…

My point was intended to be with regard to code specifically, I don't dispute that typing speed is beneficial for other communication. My recent coding experiences have been much closer to your last paragraph than your first (talking to peers about technical things has often been via audio).

Re: Show HN: I automated half of my typing

#179

Post by rgoulter »

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.

It's reasonable to expect everyone is able to use a lowest common denominator.

But, it's unreasonable that you stick to the lowest common denominator if you're going to be using your own setup 99% of the time.

I'd say a bigger disadvantage to non-traditional setups (trackballs, non-qwerty, small keyboards, etc.) is "others won't be able to use your stuff".

Re: Show HN: I automated half of my typing

#180

Post by Swizec »

SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #120
Exuma wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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,…

> I’m in software, like a lot of people here, so being able to type in speed is rarely the limiting factor

I think of typing speed in coding the same way I think of cardio in boxing – it won’t win you the round, but the lack of it can easily lose you the round.

You want topping to feel seamless and reliable. Whatever you think should come out on the keyboard reliably and without friction. Any time you have to stop and think about typing or go back to check for typos, is time you’re losing focus and flow.

Take an extreme example – search-and-peck typing where every character takes 2 seconds. Can you really hold a complex programming context sharp in your mind while it takes a minute to type a few instructions? I sure couldn’t.

But you probably also can’t think fast enough to fill a 200wpm typing buffer.

Somewhere in between those extremes lies the sweet spot where your typing speed and your thinking speed match.

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