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Keyboard lets people type so fast it’s banned from typing competitions

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Re: Keyboard lets people type so fast it’s banned from typing competitions

#81

Post by fragmede »

Someone wrote: post #25
derefr wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If software used for typing competitions is anything like a typing test in a typing tutor program (which give similar WPM + accuracy measures at the end), then it would track the number of incorrect inputs you make, but also wouldn't let you proceed (i.e. would ignore all further input) while any incorrect input remains in the buffer. With such software, you're expected to correct each word you type before moving on…

This doesn’t work like that. It moves on to the next word the moment you type a space. Also, https://monkeytype.com/about says: stats wpm - total amount of characters in the correctly typed words (including spaces), divided by 5 and normalised to 60 seconds. raw wpm - calculated just like wpm, but also includes incorrect words. acc - percentage of correctly pressed keys. char - correct characters / incorrect characte…

You can go back and delete errors, and also the default corpus is random words which probably average out to close enough to 5 characters. There are other modes which include punctuation and capitalization, as well as longer quotes to type, as well as expert and master modes (which fails you on a wrong word or character, respectively). I've never heard about this site before but it's pretty full featured!

Re: Keyboard lets people type so fast it’s banned from typing competitions

#82

Post by a-dub »

tombert wrote: post #40

Has anyone tried this with coding? It looks like this is very focused towards writing English, which is fine, but as someone who spends a good chunk of my day around code editors, a keyboard that is crap for code editing is a non-starter. However, if it's good for that, I will probably be buying one.

i don't think there's anything to gain here that you don't already get with good autocompletion.

i wonder how a trained stenographer on a chorded keyboard would compare to a trained typist with a good english language model backed autocomplete and a ui built for speed on a classic qwerty keyboard.

Re: Keyboard lets people type so fast it’s banned from typing competitions

#83

Post by vehemenz »

tombert wrote: post #50
58x14 wrote: post #3

I'm fairly obsessed with alternative HIDs. I bought the Tap Strap 2 but never broke past the initial learning curve. I'm going to buy a CharaChorder now. I'm also a musician, so I'm really interested to see what types of functionality I could map, given the additional interface dimensions. However, I'll need to test the input lag, typically anything > 20ms is rather noticeable for live music; if they have esports as…

Feel like when I am speaking somewhat conversationally (e.g. IM or even HN), I can think much faster than I can when doing something like Typeracer. It could be a result of me growing up with AIM and MSN Messenger, or maybe just a result of the fact that I tend to talk really fast regardless, but I almost can view typing as an extension of my brain, and as a result I do actually feel like my inability to type faster…

Actually, I think that is completely normal. When writing with pen and paper, it's so slow that you can't help but think ahead. You're thinking in parallel because you have time before you write the next clause or sentence. You might scratch out a word or sentence or two, but overall your thoughts will probably be more coherent and well-considered.

Even typing at 150 WPM (actually fast) is about the same speed as dictation. Anyone who's done extensive dictation knows how slow that actually is.

Re: Keyboard lets people type so fast it’s banned from typing competitions

#84

Post by vehemenz »

tombert wrote: post #33
300bps wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I type ~80WPM with 90%+ accuracy, but I don't find that typing speed is my blocker, rather the speed of a coherent thought I’m on typeracer.com with an average typing speed of 154 WPM with 99% accuracy. I don’t find my thoughts to be limiting for typing purposes.

You're making me feel a little inadequate about my current record of 97WPM with 99% accuracy.

On the other hand, it's making me feel pretty good about my thinking speed. ;)

Re: Keyboard lets people type so fast it’s banned from typing competitions

#85

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

blackearl wrote: post #26
umvi wrote: post #7

The "500 WPM" video is a little suspect. He types literally one memorized sentence and extrapolates a WPM from that one 10 word sentence. I'd like to see him actually type 500 meaningful words in under 60 seconds. Anyway, this is cool but basically just a modern stenography device. Steno has a learning curve problem that makes it so most people won't use it.

It says he competed at 267wpm in the article. The monkeytype site totally bans 300+ so I think that's still very impressive.

"with 76% accuracy" - I'm surprised typing competitions even allow scores below some accuracy level, e.g. 95% or so. Missing every fourth letter means it's basically gobbeldygook, and if you were actually typing anything where you even needed to be remotely accurate you'd spend at least 2x as much time revising.

Re: Keyboard lets people type so fast it’s banned from typing competitions

#86

Post by FpUser »

iainmerrick wrote: post #48
FpUser wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To my shame I've never learned how to type. It does not really impede my coding abilities as it is fast enough to follow my thinking. But if I need to chat online my slowness drives me mad (I assume it does the same to the other party).

It’s worth practicing! I bet it’s not too hard to get reasonably fast in a few weeks. The hardest part will be un-learning any bad habits, but if you reckon you’re currently slow, you probably don’t have too many.

I've been typing with the same speed for the last 30 years. It is not improving so I really doubt special exercise will do anything but marginal improvement.

Re: Keyboard lets people type so fast it’s banned from typing competitions

#88

Post by vanous »

FpUser wrote: post #41
tambourine_man wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

QWERTY has a steep learning curve as well, it’s just that it’s so ubiquitous that most people don’t question or remember the work that was put into.

To my shame I've never learned how to type. It does not really impede my coding abilities as it is fast enough to follow my thinking. But if I need to chat online my slowness drives me mad (I assume it does the same to the other party).

Take the time to learn, it is absolutely worth it. Do not pay attention to the comments saying "you will be at some speed soon" as that's not your aim. Learn to type precisely with as little errors. It will take you several months to just learn the keys. That's fine, it's like coding, learning the slow and hard way, you are in it for the long game. Good luck!

Re: Keyboard lets people type so fast it’s banned from typing competitions

#89

Post by usrbinbash »

>You may soon see that coworker with the weird monolith style trackball mouse rocking this strange peripheral and claiming he’s upped his efficiency in ways you can’t possibly imagine.

Since coding is 20% sitting in meetings, 50% reading code, 10% drawing on whiteboards or sticky notes, 15% drinking coffee, 4.5% fighting impostor syndrome and 0.5% actual typing, I think I am quite safe with my good 'ol QWERTY.

Re: Keyboard lets people type so fast it’s banned from typing competitions

#90

Post by nepeckman »

jhauris wrote: post #62
torpfactory wrote: post #12

I don’t think my problem is being able to get the words from my brain into the computer fast enough. My typical HID use case is composing meaningful written communication, a process which is unfortunately much slower than 500wpm.

I consider typing speed the I/O of the operation. Sure there's some processing time while you think of what to type, but regardless of how long that takes, typing will slow it down further. I'm not perfectly parallelized in thinking/typing pipelines.

I agree with the analogy, but for me (and I think most people) processing time far exceeds IO. Once you get to a good enough IO speed, it doesnt make sense to optimize further, as the returns are diminishing.
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