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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

#251

Post by fouc »

bluejellybean wrote: post #101
prirun wrote: post #2

"he did win another typing competition using the CharaChorder to hit 267 WPM with 76% accuracy." 76% accuracy doesn't sound so great to me, no matter how fast I can type on it.

I've been active in my typing practice since I was about 4, and once I'm warmed up I can usually hit high 120s with 100% accuracy on unseen MonkeyType using a qwerty keyboard with red Cherry switches. If I ignore accuracy and go for 'raw' speed, I am able to achieve significantly faster WPM, typically between the range of 140s-180s. The issue I run into with programs like these is that I have to read/match the expect…

I'm guessing that hands drifting only happens when you're really pushing for speed and get sloppy?

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

#252

Post by therealdrag0 »

usrbinbash wrote: post #89

>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.

The amount of time I spend typing in Slack alone is FAR greater then 0.5%, plus writing docs, tickets, PRs, writing code, etc.

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

#254

Post by hsbauauvhabzb »

clove wrote: post #166
nthdeui wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I learnt to touch type I switched to Dvorak at the same time. I liked the idea of improved efficiency but whenever I had to use someone else's computer or they needed to use mine it was too much hassle. Once I'd relearned to touch type with Qwerty life was so much easier. Also hjkl with Vim using Dvorak was just too hard to get my brain around

You can easily and quickly add a Dvorak keyboard to someone else's computer, deleting it once done. I did that all the time when I worked as an editor, having to occasionally edit on clients' computers. The benefit of speed gained from using Dvorak outweighs the inconvenience of having to occasionally add and delete a keyboard on other computers.

Buy a mechanical keyboard with the ability to modify the firmware. I did this and it was worth the $200 price tag.

Forgetting to configure computers after finishing with them, not knowing what layout was in use in the login screen, initial configuration, etc all cost time. I also use RDP a lot which is layout roulette (sometimes it changes, sometimes it doesn’t)

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

#255

Post by hackerfromthefu »

jaqalopes wrote: post #225

A lot of people are expressing doubt about the utility of faster typing speed--rightly so, since that is the focus of the article. However, as a prose writer, I'm actually quite excited about this kind of device. When I'm typing 50,000+ characters of prose per week, every week, that's a lot of finger strain with a QWERTY keyboard--and I feel it. If a device let me accomplish that work with less net impact on my hands…

Did you try voice transcription?

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

#256

Post by RubyRidgeRandy »

ehsankia wrote: post #249
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.

To me, it comes down to this line: > have a computer program generate a predicted word Do steno devices do this? This right there easily disqualifies it from competitions. It's like using the keyboard autocomplete. If you're using a machine to predict and correctly type the word for you, it defeats half the point of typing competitions, which is specifically about typing words without typos. The majority of time lost…

stenography involves shorthand. This is what a stenographer is actually typing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Steno-example.gif

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

#257

Post by epolanski »

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.

Exactly, I'm a touch typist and regularly train on various websites. The biggest blocker after you start reaching high speeds isn't even the keyboard but the brain. You need to read far far ahead to write at 130+ wpm you basically are typing a word while you read the following sentence. 200+ requires writing even more ahead.

A normal person can barely "mentally process" that many words per second.

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

#258

Post by xboxnolifes »

fsckboy wrote: post #51
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.

> has a steep learning curve just to make the pedantic point, learning curves show skill improvement plotted against time spent/experience, and therefore a steep learning curve means you learn quickly. A shallow learning curve is the difficult one. /pedantry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_curve

A steep learning curve can also mean you make very little progress for a long time until suddenly being proficient.

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

#259

Post by shard »

jldugger wrote: post #168
romwell wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a trade-off between spending some time thinking about what should be written, and then typing a little - or spending all the time typing, typing, typing, and rewriting. I don't think I've ever been in a job where I was limited by typing speed.

Then you should definitely consider switching keyboard layouts to reduce RSI. I did, last week. Going from 80wpm to 30 wpm is definitely a job impediment (in the short term). So many things are keyboard driven: - communicating with peers over slack - writing code / git commands - writing email, comments in HN, documentation, etc. - taking notes in meetings - all the browser shortcuts - all the CLI readline shortcuts

Yes. I've love to be able to type fast enough to take notes so that I don't have to try to read my chicken scratch handwriting and figure out what the hell I was trying to write, especially when referring to notes where I don't have any recollection of what the contents were.

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

#260

Post by kelseyfrog »

Aperocky wrote: post #207
dmux wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm having difficulties finding the source right now, but I remember reading a story about a sysadmin that was berated for his typing speed and the story ended with him replying "I don't get paid to type code fast, I get paid to press enter very, very slowly."

playing the devil's advocate, typing speed is important for these reasons: 1. It allows for minimal disruption to thinking process, close to 90% of the time even when coding is not actively typing, but when typing is subconscious and fast it removes the potential of where it interrupts the thinking process. 2. While this has no bearing on individual case (It would be Bayesian, some people consider that to be heretic)…

> It allows for minimal disruption to thinking process

Willing to dive into this a bit more? My personal experience is different so I figure this is a chance to learn something new. The subjective character of typing experience for me is like riding a bike, driving a car, walking, or speaking. That is to say that unless I'm mountain biking, off-roading, on a balance beam, or trying to say a tongue twister, for the most part I'm unaware of the intention-execution-results loop, and the intention-results loop is all that consciously exists. My paltry 50-60wpm doesn't feel like an impediment to putting thoughts into text, but maybe others feel differently.

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