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Using Voice to Code Faster than Keyboard

ergoemacs.org

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Re: Using Voice to Code Faster than Keyboard

#101

Post by egypturnash »

dctoedt wrote: post #68
mechanical_fish wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nice people also judge those who try to shame people (not all of whom are native speakers of English) into silence on health-related forum threads by picking on irrelevancies.

> those who try to shame people ... into silence on health-related forum threads That's a bit overstated. But mechanical_fish is right that that my own choice of words could have been more tactful. That's why I changed "Syntax correction" to "Syntax tip " in the GP.

I like to deliver my occasional spelling correction comments like this: "Polite spelling correction: word, not werd". Opening the comment with "polite" seems to be a very good way to flag that you're not trying to engage in any power games or whatnot.

Re: Using Voice to Code Faster than Keyboard

#102

Post by wwweston »

sybhn wrote: post #32
rnovak wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the day the average programmer gets an office, well... I don't even get a cube where I work

it's funny. The place i'm at now, in the valley and a successful post IPO SaaS company, management believes that open space and engineers running around, yelling and waving hands is sign or productivity. I have to escape to the kitchen to get anything requiring the tiniest level of concentration.

Yep. The difference in one role (management) the conditions you're describing read as signals of activity. In the other role (development) it reads as noise interfering with the activity you're working on.

A "successful" company probably already has a culture that's going to be hard to change, but where management is trainable, you can sometimes improve things by giving them something else like else to focus on, like commit logs, test suites, or ticket updates.

Re: Using Voice to Code Faster than Keyboard

#103

Post by kps »

pachydermic wrote: post #81
fsck--off wrote: post #25

"Emacs pinkie" is a non-issue if you use a keyboard with thumb clusters, e.g a Maltron or a Kinesis model. Investing in a good keyboard is just as crucial as investing in a good chair, especially if you make a living by coding. The time that you spend compensating for a bad input device by hacking your own workarounds can be more costly then spending money on a proper solution. Once you are an adequate touch typist t…

Do those keyboards really make a difference? I'd be happy to try them and give it a fair chance, but I'm not okay with a 455 pounds gamble. The pedals look like a good idea (I'm an emacs user)... but they do seem pretty goofy.

Maltron offer rentals for £10/week (assuming from your use of ‘pounds’ that you're in the UK), discounted if you buy it. http://www.maltron.com/keyboard-info/keyboard-hire-uk-only

Kinesis' UK distributor has a 30 day 'sale or return' option (you pay shipping). http://www.ergonomics.co.uk/faq.html

Re: Using Voice to Code Faster than Keyboard

#104

Post by rwg »

ajross wrote: post #87
fsck--off wrote: post #25

"Emacs pinkie" is a non-issue if you use a keyboard with thumb clusters, e.g a Maltron or a Kinesis model. Investing in a good keyboard is just as crucial as investing in a good chair, especially if you make a living by coding. The time that you spend compensating for a bad input device by hacking your own workarounds can be more costly then spending money on a proper solution. Once you are an adequate touch typist t…

It's similarly much less an issue when you map your keys correctly. Control goes to the left of "A", meta below "/". Much less pinky travel. Sun got this right way back in the 80's with the Type 3 keyboard (vi users prefer its placement of ESC too).

FWIW, you can get an unused Unix layout (Control left of A, Esc left of 1, Backspace directly above Return) Sun Type 6 USB keyboard for around $40.

http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/memx_2267_226185665

If you're using X11, you can go nuts with xmodmap and get it functioning at least as well as it did on Solaris.

I think getting a genuine Sun keyboard beats just remapping keys on a 101/104-key PC keyboard. There are 12 additional keys at the left and top-left of the keyboard just begging to be remapped for your own nefarious purposes. You also get meta keys that are separate from the Alt key, as well as Compose and AltGr keys for your åçcéñtêd character needs.

Plus when you look down and see the Sun logo, you can reminisce about the old days and have a good cry at your desk.

Re: Using Voice to Code Faster than Keyboard

#105

Post by sophacles »

m_mueller wrote: post #38
shurcooL wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It usually happens during refactoring, or when you're doing something you've done before, so you already know pretty much exactly what needs to be done and you're just executing. It also helps to stop coding for a minute, think what you want to do, then code until you stop typing for more than 5 seconds, repeat.

When refactoring: Instead of typing fast, use ST multicursors or VI/emacs macros in an intelligent way. And I really really recommend ST if you don't want to debug your editor macros before debugging your build macros before debugging your code macros before debugging your code (yo dawg etcetera).

On the other end are us visual thinkers. I could do all of that proficiently just fine. In fact I do plenty of macros and scripts and so on. But at the end of the day, I think in pictures. I end up using a lot of editor short cuts and "lots of keypresses" style refactoring while I work out the shape I really want. Then, when I get that, fire off some macros to deal with the rest, cleanup, etc.

Re: Using Voice to Code Faster than Keyboard

#106

Post by wtallis »

ajross wrote: post #87
fsck--off wrote: post #25

"Emacs pinkie" is a non-issue if you use a keyboard with thumb clusters, e.g a Maltron or a Kinesis model. Investing in a good keyboard is just as crucial as investing in a good chair, especially if you make a living by coding. The time that you spend compensating for a bad input device by hacking your own workarounds can be more costly then spending money on a proper solution. Once you are an adequate touch typist t…

It's similarly much less an issue when you map your keys correctly. Control goes to the left of "A", meta below "/". Much less pinky travel. Sun got this right way back in the 80's with the Type 3 keyboard (vi users prefer its placement of ESC too).

Apple also does well in their modifier key placement by having a narrower space bar that extends from "C" to "M" on most keyboards, meaning the modifier keys next to the space bar are easily reachable with thumbs.

Re: Using Voice to Code Faster than Keyboard

#107

Post by krisc »

robertfw wrote: post #80
frozenport wrote: post #4

I wonder if we should also be voice coding in a language drastically different then for example, C++? Maybe a language more syntactically friendly for voice?

I've been wondering if lisp languages would be a good fit for this, as they have a minimum of syntax.

He mentions that in the video. The way Lisps are structured make it simpler for voice recognition.

Re: Using Voice to Code Faster than Keyboard

#108

Post by read »

thenomad wrote: post #73
mechanical_fish wrote: post #57

A few months ago I had an RSI problem so bad - able to type only a minute at a time, even sitting with hands on keyboard hurt - that I started down this route. This video was, literally, a life-altering motivator for me, and I was quite obsessed with it. Ironically, after seeing a physical therapist - which, let me tell you , you should do at the first sign of pain, because while they can't help some people I persona…

Having suffered with RSI for years (before the advent of current-gen speech recognition, so it really sucked), I heartily echo this advice: which, let me tell you, you should do at the first sign of pain Do that. REALLY REALLY do that. Also, this book is superb: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Its-Carpal-Tunnel-Syndrome-Professio...

The most surprising information I discovered curing RSI is:

http://aaroniba.net/articles/tmp/how-i-cured-my-rsi-pain.htm...

which recommends

http://www.amazon.com/Mindbody-Prescription-Healing-Body-Pai...

Re: Using Voice to Code Faster than Keyboard

#109

Post by bostonvaulter2 »

burke wrote: post #97
lifeformed wrote: post #10

I guess it depends on the type of software you're working on, but input speed has never been close to being the bottleneck with coding for me... Most of the time I'm trying to figure out what to do or how to implement an algorithm. Rarely do I get those mad-scientist frenzies where I'm typing away frantically trying to get all the words down as they come into my mind in a flash of inspiration.

I was never sure which side of this argument I came down on, and then I switched to a Kinesis Advantage keyboard. I had to slow down my typing for a couple weeks to get the finger positions right. The whole time, I felt like I was coding with a hangover. I felt like I couldn't think properly, just because of the reduced brain->computer bandwidth.

Did you eventually get better at typing on the Kinesis?

Re: Using Voice to Code Faster than Keyboard

#110

Post by darkmighty »

read wrote: post #108
thenomad wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having suffered with RSI for years (before the advent of current-gen speech recognition, so it really sucked), I heartily echo this advice: which, let me tell you, you should do at the first sign of pain Do that. REALLY REALLY do that. Also, this book is superb: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Its-Carpal-Tunnel-Syndrome-Professio...

The most surprising information I discovered curing RSI is: http://aaroniba.net/articles/tmp/how-i-cured-my-rsi-pain.htm... which recommends http://www.amazon.com/Mindbody-Prescription-Healing-Body-Pai...

Pseudoscience? Here?

Placebo pills seem a lot less time consuming than the suggested above...

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