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Typing 118 WPM broke my brain in the right ways

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Re: Typing 118 WPM broke my brain in the right ways

#71

Post by JohnMakin »

HideousKojima wrote: post #49
JohnMakin wrote: post #4

> Plot twist: I don't type "correctly" at all. My fingers just go wherever they want. It's like anarchist typing. My left pinky probably hasn't touched the 'A' key in months, but somehow I'm still in the 99.5 percentile. Turns out the "proper way" is just a suggestion. Like following PEP 8 or using semicolons in JavaScript. Sure, it's nice, but if your way works better, who cares? This is super interesting - I have t…

My Mom got me Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing and other tools to help me to learn to type "correctly", but I didn't have any motivation to learn how to type until I started playing the original Starcraft online. I needed to be able to communicate with teammates (and trash talk opponents) in a timely manner, so I was forced to learn to type fast. But as a result, I also developed my own unorthodox style that looks a lot l…

Yea, this is how it started for me - typing something like "please stop killing me" and struggling to play the game while looking at my keyboard was a very early moment I remember that spurred me on.

Re: Typing 118 WPM broke my brain in the right ways

#72

Post by dylan604 »

JohnMakin wrote: post #66
dylan604 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if you've never had proper typing tests, then I'd suspect your WPM scores are not what you think. you may be typing keys at 110-120 WPM, but what does the score look like if you adjust for mistakes? It makes a bigger difference than most people are willing to admit.

I'm sorry for any undue snark here, but what do you mean by "proper" typing test and what do you think I meant in the OP by 1 minute tests? There are a plethora of online tests available that measure this with good accuracy and of course I have taken several. This is with <1% errors I am speaking of. I generally have very low errors. In addition, by late highschool, I had to pass a typing test for a computer class I…

A proper typing test will reduce your WPM for each mistake. It's not a raw counting of keys pressed in 60s.

Re: Typing 118 WPM broke my brain in the right ways

#74

Post by JohnMakin »

dylan604 wrote: post #72
JohnMakin wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry for any undue snark here, but what do you mean by "proper" typing test and what do you think I meant in the OP by 1 minute tests? There are a plethora of online tests available that measure this with good accuracy and of course I have taken several. This is with <1% errors I am speaking of. I generally have very low errors. In addition, by late highschool, I had to pass a typing test for a computer class I…

A proper typing test will reduce your WPM for each mistake. It's not a raw counting of keys pressed in 60s.

Ok, apparently you do not understand again or read at all what I just wrote - typing tests online don't work this way. Neither did the one I took in highschool. I would be hard pressed to find a single one that doesn't account for errors and is just a raw count of the keys pressed. What would that even look like?

Re: Typing 118 WPM broke my brain in the right ways

#76

Post by Pet_Ant »

I cannot get above 93% accuracy... on a good day. That really hampers my speed. I even switched layouts permanently to Dvorak before the pandemic in an effort to force myself to really drop all my bad habits but even in this comment I probably made close to two dozen typos unless I really concentrate.

Re: Typing 118 WPM broke my brain in the right ways

#77

Post by esseph »

nand_gate wrote: post #48
jchw wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to type >140 WPM at high accuracy when I was younger without home row. These days I think I likely sit closer to 90 WPM or so, since I really just don't really need to type super fast very often and am pretty out of practice. I reckon home row is probably not terrible or anything, but like a lot of weird old ergonomics advice, I just don't trust the idea that you must or possibly even should use home row. For…

WASD is my home row, still 120-140. I lowkey judge any developer who is noticable slow at typing as I can't imagine they're using a computer effectively at such a pace given how much keyboard hitting needs to occur during regular use alone. Not that it's a high bar but I'm surprised more companies don't test wpm when hiring over rote crap like LC.

Typing fast may be the least important thing towards developing a well designed, long-lived product.

Re: Typing 118 WPM broke my brain in the right ways

#78

Post by jchw »

dylan604 wrote: post #42
jchw wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to type >140 WPM at high accuracy when I was younger without home row. These days I think I likely sit closer to 90 WPM or so, since I really just don't really need to type super fast very often and am pretty out of practice. I reckon home row is probably not terrible or anything, but like a lot of weird old ergonomics advice, I just don't trust the idea that you must or possibly even should use home row. For…

I don't even come close to groking how one types without home row hand placement. How does that even work? Where are your hands if not starting at home row?

The best answer to this is literally "I don't know." I can actually observe what my hand does and give you an answer, but the truth is that I don't conciously make a choice. I do rely on the bumps on f and j to align my fingers initially, and I know I make use of keys with different shapes as landmarks. Otherwise though it just kind of floats around. I would guess it looks a bit like playing a musical instrument (but I don't play any, so hell if I know.)

Re: Typing 118 WPM broke my brain in the right ways

#79

Post by matt_lo »

5 minutes of typeracer saves 1 hour of procrastination

Typing fast is a way to unlock the brain. Anything past 90, you start to focus on exactly what is needed to type accurately with speed.

I average around 106-130 (depending on recent races) for the past 15 years, and it's still one of the best ways to "get into dev mode" really quickly.

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