I would say sloppily, never had any lessons.
I have trained myself some time ago, but I ended up returning to the sloppy way, I ended up finding it faster (maybe its not but its how it works for me)
Poll: Do you touch-type?
51–60 of 78 posts
Re: Poll: Do you touch-type?
#52Being able to follow what you type using the display instead of having to watch the keyboard instills a certain calmness. It's actually not so much about typing speed, more about adopting a less tiresome work process.
Re: Poll: Do you touch-type?
#53I like http://keybr.com/
Its a shame I cant set it for the Portuguese(Portugal) layout.
Re: Poll: Do you touch-type?
#54I failed typing class in 9th grade. Big fat "F".
Two years later I was touch-typing on my first computer, because I /had/ to in order to get the speed I wanted.
Motivation is wierd. :-)
[my handle, 'kabdib', is what comes out when you type my name and one hand is off home position]
Re: Poll: Do you touch-type?
#55Depends on what I'm doing. If I'm writing out a lot of text, usually I'll stay hovered near the home row keys (but never resting my fingers on them). However, if I'm in vim, my hands spread apart some to give better access to Esc+Ctrl and Shift+:
Re: Poll: Do you touch-type?
#56I don't know why, but I found it slightly offending that you called not using the home keys "sloppily". But.. Then I realized you're right. My style is definitely sloppy.. I wanted to learn touch typing properly, so I took a touch typing class in high school. But it wasn't a very good class and the teacher basically told me I didn't have to do anything to pass as I already typed 30-40 wpm faster than anyone else in t…
You pretty much described how I type. My hands may fly all over the keyboard, but 1.) I don't need to look at the keys, and 2.) I'm pretty fast. Ergo, I don't think there's a problem. (Not counting when I have to use a keyboard with those big keys and make an awful lot of noise.)
Re: Poll: Do you touch-type?
#57Mostly.
Re: Poll: Do you touch-type?
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't really agree with the Steve Yegge comment. When I am programming I spend upwards of 85% of the time thinking, not typing. As such I don't see how being at 80wpm (my sloppy sometimes-touch-sometimes-look typing speed) affects my productivity significantly.
Touch-typing isn't about WPM. It's about the fact that, once you're half-decent at it (and it only takes a few months) the fact that you're typing disappears . So you can write or code without even thinking about typing because the muscle memory turns your verbal thoughts into text. Hunt-and-peck is more than fast enough (30-40 wpm for skilled hunt-and-peck typists) to crank out code but it's a lot easier to lose the…
Yes, its important to note here that touch-typing as well as all the talk around VIM and Co. is less about efficiency and more about reducing the cognitive load per step/instruction.
Re: Poll: Do you touch-type?
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't really agree with the Steve Yegge comment. When I am programming I spend upwards of 85% of the time thinking, not typing. As such I don't see how being at 80wpm (my sloppy sometimes-touch-sometimes-look typing speed) affects my productivity significantly.
Touch-typing isn't about WPM. It's about the fact that, once you're half-decent at it (and it only takes a few months) the fact that you're typing disappears . So you can write or code without even thinking about typing because the muscle memory turns your verbal thoughts into text. Hunt-and-peck is more than fast enough (30-40 wpm for skilled hunt-and-peck typists) to crank out code but it's a lot easier to lose the…
I still don't understand. Typing takes a definitive amount of time. Touch typing can cut that time significantly. I do agree with that. However, claiming that typing slowly makes you lose your flow appears a bit far fetched to me.
Re: Poll: Do you touch-type?
#60The homerow nubs on the keyboards I use are starting to wear off (and one of them has totally come off), it really shows how a millimeter of plastic can throw off usability.