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Poll: Do you touch-type?

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Poll: Do you touch-type?

#71

Post by jfruh »

I learned in high school on electric typewriters in '90 or '91. It was an elective then, but I certainly hope it would be a requirement today Still the only skill from high school that use every single day.

I was someone who had already done a lot of fiddling on the computer at that point so even as a high-school student I had a lot of self-trained semi-fast typing skills that I had to unlearn. I found the first month of the class really frustrating as a result, but eventually the new skills kicked in and I found myself typing much faster than I did before.

Touch-typing is a skill that involves muscle memory, and as such there's no real short cut to it and you'll find the process annoying and not engaging to your higher intellect. But stick with it. It's incredibly useful, I promise.

Re: Poll: Do you touch-type?

#72

Post by ZeroGravitas »

bdg wrote: post #61
tonipenya wrote: post #4

The Dvorak Way. Touchtyping is just one of the benefits of switching to Dvorak. There is no point looking down there since there is nothing useful to see.

I was thinking of Dvoarking, but I use vim. And hjkl gets really confusing.

I learned both (Dvorak and Vim) at the same time, and it didn't seem any more confusing than any other part, though maybe that's because I didn't already have muscle memory for those keys.

Re: Poll: Do you touch-type?

#73

Post by submissiv »

I type between 85 and 105 wpm on average. I have a few inefficiencies that slow me down (I only use the right shift key, for instance), but by and large I'm very competent. My accuracy is over 99%.

I think the best way to learn to type is to do things that require typing, and play games. Programs like Mavis Beacon and their ilk are good for one pass through. You should run through the program to get to the point where you don't have to think about where the keys are any more. Usually this is around 20 wpm or so.

After this though, it's all about practice. I like to practice with TypeRacer.com. It takes just a minute or two per race and you'll be given a wide variety of things to type. Typer-Shark ( http://www.popcap.com/node/215 ) is another great game for drilling yourself.

And above all, typing regularly and avoiding shortcuts is the best way to improve your speed. If you read the newspaper daily, every day pick one article and transcribe it after reading it. If you use facebook chat or another Instant Messenger on the computer, always type out whole words instead of using short-hand. Simple things like this make your habit of typing more consistent and over time lead to great speed increases.

Re: Poll: Do you touch-type?

#75

Post by duncan_bayne »

My touch typing has gone downhill steadily since I started spending hours working on a train - pretty much in any ergonomic-disaster position I fit.

This poll is a timely reminder to start doing some typing drills on a regular basis.

Re: Poll: Do you touch-type?

#76

Post by nailitnow »

Every time we use the keyboard, we mentally split it into two sides, left-hand letters and right-hand letters, so why not learn one side at a time? It makes sense and, 15 keys instead of 30, it’s much easier. There are 4 fingers on your left hand and 4 home keys on the left side in the middle row, ASDF, so it’s easy to figure out what finger hits what key, but how to remember ASDF, it doesn’t make any sense. Animals in the Snow Dig for Food, yay! Type ASDF and say this sentence aloud. Do this 10 times.

Now, what words can you type using ASDF? Type add, as, dad, fad and sad without looking at the keyboard.

But wait, there’s another letter in the middle row, G, and you don’t have any more fingers. The Food finger does double the work and moves over to G. Type ASDFG and say aloud Animals in the Snow Dig for Food Greedily. Do this 10 times. Now, type gad, gag, gas and sag without looking at the keyboard.

Next, the top and bottom rows. Place your four left fingers on ASDF and idly move them up to the top row and down to the bottom row. The Animals finger types Q on the top row and Z on the bottom row. Animals Queensland Zoo (or Qatar Zoo, Quebec Zoo, Qingdao Zoo). Type AQZ and say aloud Animals Queensland Zoo. Do this 10 times.

Top and bottom row associations for Snow, Dig and Food are: Snow White Xmas, Dig Easter Chocolate, Food Raw Vegetables.

Two keys to go. The hardworking Food finger also types T and B. Type FTB and say aloud Food T-Bone. Do this 10 times.

One home row sentence and 5 up and down association words and you have finished the left side in 35 minutes. This is the Nail It Now way of learning http://www.nailitnow.com.au

Re: Poll: Do you touch-type?

#77

Post by aangjie »

chaosprophet wrote: post #59
michaelochurch wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

that's because you're phrasing the claim badly. the claim is not typing slowly makes you lose flow, but that hunt-and-peck typing causes you to lose flow.. It's pretty simple imagination from that to hypothesize why that is the the case.

Re: Poll: Do you touch-type?

#78

Post by aangjie »

bambax wrote: post #28

I learned to touch-type on a basic mechanic typewriter in the late 80s -- no electricity whatsoever, you had to hit the keys very hard to make it work. The teacher was an old style professional typist; she was almost able to hear each mistake (in a class of 20 people). There was a huge screen at the end of the classroom that showed a keybord; when the teacher would say "A" she would lit the letter up at the same time…

Another mechanical kb learner here.. but never took it long enough to get past learning the fingering stage.....I agree with the crisp keystrokes.... Now i guess my average should be around 40-50 wpm...
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