Typing 118 WPM broke my brain in the right ways • Hacker News Board

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

#131

Post by fn-mote » Tue, Jun 03, 2025, 12:54 AM UTC

TeMPOraL wrote: post #90

esseph wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

So the saying goes, but this article, and many people's honest experience, suggests otherwise. Yes, developing complex systems is about thinking, not typing. But human head only fits so much, and once you pick up a tool to externalize your thinking, be it pen and paper, or text editor, or a whiteboard, you're limited by I/O. Reading is by far the fastest part, but if you're typing (or sketching) slower than you think…

Instead of just disagreeing, I find I actually agree! At least with the premise of the I/O bound system.

At some point I realized that linear writing (typing or writing on lined paper) does not have the flexibility to express the thought processes that I want to commit to writing.

Now I write on blank paper (or an iPad if the thinking needs to be active for a long period of time).

I might be I/O bound but at least this way I don't need Serializable thoughts.

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

#132

Post by rudimentary_phy » Tue, Jun 03, 2025, 12:59 AM UTC

horsawlarway wrote: post #51

meta-level wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also f and j are marked and you can find them blindly

You can find lots of ways to orient yourself, though. Space and Caps-lock are enough to orient me on any keyboard I've used for more than a minute or two. Space and Enter orient on the right hand. Basically - if my left pinky is touching the line between caps lock and shift on the left side of those keys, and my thumb is touching the bottom of the space bar, I know exactly where my middle fingers are resting. With th…

I type (mostly) correct, but this is true. I'm still using one of the first keyboards I ever bought and the f and j keys have become worn down, so I seem to have learned ways similar to what you're describing.

Different keyboards with macros or weirdly formatted buttons throw me for a loop with this method though, while the f and j keys guarantee correct positioning.

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

#133

Post by LoganDark » Tue, Jun 03, 2025, 1:05 AM UTC

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…

> This is super interesting - I have typed "wrong" since the time I first picked up a keyboard, 6 or 7 years old, back in an age where typing was not taught in school or an expected skill everyone was just automatically meant to know. As such, I developed my own "style" which looks a lot like "pecking" a lot of beginners will do, but has adapted over the decades to something that is my own.

Hey, me too: https://vxtwitter.com/LoganDark/status/1919146616763617342

(I usually type with more than two pointers, that post was just to prove a point that you don't need more than two fingers to type quickly. You probably don't even necessarily need two, though I couldn't go nearly that fast with only one.)

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

#134

Post by JohnMakin » Tue, Jun 03, 2025, 1:08 AM UTC

w10-1 wrote: post #96

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…

> I typically just use the index/middle finger on my left hand that covers most of the left hand side of the keyboard, depending on word (index might reach for the 'y' key sometimes) and the pinky for shift key. Right hand uses mostly the index, ring (for hitting backspace and enter) and thumb (for spacebar). fwiw, you might be avoiding the ulnar nerve usage. Perhaps that makes things easier for your brain/cerebellum…

that’s a really interesting point. What is, if any, the overhead of this coordination? I imagine it must be in the order of milliseconds or much much less but is something I never considered. And to some degree once it becomes instinctive muscle “memory” is there still this overhead?

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

#135

Post by system2 » Tue, Jun 03, 2025, 1:13 AM UTC

I have a Logitech K860 split keyboard, and I still haven't adjusted my fingers yet. I have also been trying to finish the dactyl manuform in my garage for the last two weeks, and I hope it will further improve my finger placements. Chaotic typing, I reach 100wpm, but I make mistakes which makes me feel uncomfortable...

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

#136

Post by mromanuk » Tue, Jun 03, 2025, 1:19 AM UTC

BennyH26 wrote: post #124

98codes wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was in the 8th grade (back in the 1900s), I took a typing elective class, because I figured if I was going to be in front of a keyboard typing for a living as a programmer, I should learn to do it right. That was a rare very good decision for kid me back then, and it's paid off ever since.

You were typing on a keyboard in the 1900s huh? ;) Same here - in the 1990s I made the same decision, and it was one of the best of my life. Cheers.

I didn’t take typing lessons, but I’ve been typing since the 1980s, probably since 1987. At some point, I discovered that people typed without looking, decided that using 10 fingers and typing without looking at the keyboard was better, so I started optimizing for it, and it worked.

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

#137

Post by jw1224 » Tue, Jun 03, 2025, 1:26 AM UTC

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. I peaked at 137wpm[0] and I’m not ashamed to say I love typing long sentences. I type fast enough that my thoughts normally can’t keep up with my fingers, but when I plan a sentence out in my head, the satisfaction I get from watching my inner monologue transmogrify into words onscreen is palpable. It’s a rush. And I totally get it. Great article!

[0] https://data.typeracer.com/pit/profile?user=mavis_b

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

#138

Post by koolba » Tue, Jun 03, 2025, 1:27 AM UTC

I’d be curious how many of the people on this thread are the fastest typists they know.

There’s special pain involved in watching someone type slowly. Even worse when there’s repeated mistakes.

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

#139

Post by rgoulter » Tue, Jun 03, 2025, 1:28 AM UTC

ryandv wrote: post #117

dawnofdusk wrote: post #11

Typing fast is an underrated skill for developers. A lot of the value added by various intelligent tab completion and LLMs is easily replicated by typing variable and function names at 100+ wpm. Not a fan, however, of the desire to disparage the "right" way of doing things that's done in this blog. I type the "proper" way, home row and all, and can reach 150+wpm with high accuracy. So, based on this evidence, you're…

I am at least 99th percentile on typeracer. I wonder how much of these alleged LLM speedups are from people with low WPM and/or vim fluency.

If you're working with a language you're not-so experienced in, then the completion for `// read data from file f into x` is going to be significantly quicker than looking up the documentation for this.

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

#140

Post by toomanyreps » Tue, Jun 03, 2025, 1:29 AM UTC

DavidVoid wrote: post #93

This just makes me want to get back into learning stenography again. It requires a hell of a lot of practice, but being able to write at 200 WPM (without frantic finger movement) would be quite nice. Here's a demo/explainer at 200 WPM for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jVXrX5TDk4

Its really fun once you get into it if you have the time, are somewhat linguistically inclined, and like messing with emacs configs/keyboard layers. Its not necessary for programming, but my reasoning was that I was going to be spending 8+ hours a day on the computer for the foreseeable future so it was probably worth putting the time in learning given I was already interested. Its much less physical effort to type, but does require more mental effort at first.