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Poll: How fast do you type?

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Poll: How fast do you type?

#11

Post by getsat »

If I'm transcribing something from paper or converting my thoughts into text, I do between 130-140 WPM. When programming I probably do something more like 5 WPM. My main keyboard is a full-sized Apple keyboard which I prefer over my Das Keyboard and my Kinesis Split keyboard due to the short travel on the keys. I use Dvorak.

I only type using three fingers on each hand. My three left hand fingers rest on A, W and E (in QWERTY) when idle. My three right hand fingers rest on M, L and : when idle. My right pinky holds down shift when necessary, so I can type nearly full speed in all caps. I actually do not use either of my thumbs to hit the spacebar; my right index finger does as it's right next to the spacebar when idle.

I realise this is really weird and it's probably why my thumb starts to involuntarily twitch (in addition to hurting in general) when I use laptop keyboards too much. :(

Re: Poll: How fast do you type?

#14

Post by daimyoyo »

I have a very unique typing style I've developed based on my experiences with thumb typing on my iPhone and the fact that my old job required me to dial phone numbers all day. I've never seen it before but I can get(and maintian) typing speeds in excess of 100WPM with no training so I must be doing something right. This will be a bit difficult to explain but try to visualize. I adapt where my fingers are based on what word I'm typing. So when I type something like "something" I'll use my left hand's middle finger to type "s" then my right hand will type "om" with my ring and index finger respectively, then my left hand types "eth" with my ring, middle and index finger then my right hand types "in" with my middle and index fingers, then my left index finger types "g". That was a terrible run-on sentence and I apologize for that but that's basically how I type. As a disclaimer for this method, I have devolped the ability to use both hands independently so your milage may vary.

Re: Poll: How fast do you type?

#15

Post by Qz »

The typeracer test linked to elsewhere says I type around 70 wpm. I never learned the 'proper' way to type, though. I do some weird homebrew typing method that primarily involves my pointer and index finer on my right hand and my pointer finger on my left hand, as well as my ring finger on my right hand for the occasional comma or backspace. It's almost like hunt and peck except I don't have to look at the keyboard, not sure how else to describe it. Seems to work well for me though, been typing a lot every day for years and no signs of carpal-tunnel yet!

Re: Poll: How fast do you type?

#16

Post by zackattack »

TGJ wrote: post #12

I've never had a reason to go above 60wpm. Just like reading, I see the words in my head and choose not to break that barrier.

the first thing they teach you in speedreading is that sounding words aloud is actually holding you back, you can actually parse the words faster than you can pronounce them. plus you can parse groups of words...

Re: Poll: How fast do you type?

#18

Post by zackattack »

statictype wrote: post #4
mindcrime wrote: post #2

I honestly have no idea how fast I type these days. And it varies by domain, what device I'm typing on, etc. But, FWIW, when I was taking "keyboarding" in college back in the early 90's, I was somewhere in the 80-90wpm range.

http://play.typeracer.com/ That's a fun game to play when you're really bored. It also feels nice when, after a couple of rounds, it asks you to fill a captcha because it thinks your speed is so high you must be cheating :) For me my speed varies by what I'm actually doing: typing code, writing emails/comments have different speeds. Actually, now that I think of it, it's difficult to measure the speed of typing code…

Just got 108 (due to the stress of competition) but when I had to type the CAPTCHA I scored 133 because I wasn't worried about opponents. Edit: certified 155! woot. I need a new hobby.

Re: Poll: How fast do you type?

#19

Post by agscala »

daimyoyo wrote: post #14

I have a very unique typing style I've developed based on my experiences with thumb typing on my iPhone and the fact that my old job required me to dial phone numbers all day. I've never seen it before but I can get(and maintian) typing speeds in excess of 100WPM with no training so I must be doing something right. This will be a bit difficult to explain but try to visualize. I adapt where my fingers are based on wha…

That sounds really cool. You should take a video of yourself typing since I think I'm probably not the only one interested to see this in action.

Re: Poll: How fast do you type?

#20

Post by code »

statictype wrote: post #4
mindcrime wrote: post #2

I honestly have no idea how fast I type these days. And it varies by domain, what device I'm typing on, etc. But, FWIW, when I was taking "keyboarding" in college back in the early 90's, I was somewhere in the 80-90wpm range.

http://play.typeracer.com/ That's a fun game to play when you're really bored. It also feels nice when, after a couple of rounds, it asks you to fill a captcha because it thinks your speed is so high you must be cheating :) For me my speed varies by what I'm actually doing: typing code, writing emails/comments have different speeds. Actually, now that I think of it, it's difficult to measure the speed of typing code…

http://d.pr/IH8J

Like a few on here, I never learned the proper way to type although I use all 10 digits. My typing were from countless hours coding or chatting.

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