121–130 of 233 posts
I really recommend MonkeyType. The UI is great, the stats are clear, and the modes are really elegant. https://monkeytype.com/ I used it daily like the author for about 6 months to improve from 80wpm to about 120wpm.
- how many minutes per day?
- after each test, did you redo wrong/slow words?
My current typing speed, as measured by Monkeytype, is 80wpm (after a deduction for errors).
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.
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…
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.
I knew to place my two fingers on the f and j keys when I started, so I sort-of have proper typing skills (things like g, h, t, and y are usually tapped by whichever finger is closest, but otherwise I type correctly). One of my friends in school also played that game, and he has the same typing skills (and that exact bad habit). I did not know him when I first started playing. I find that to be a mighty coincidence, so I expected to encounter more people that learned that way, and I'm a little disappointed I haven't seen anyone else who learned that way yet.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Staying at home row is not really about ergonomics. The best thing you can do (without breaking the bank, i.e., no bespoke split keyboard setups) for your hand ergonomics at the computer is to get a vertical mouse and tilt your keyboard downwards and away from you (the opposite of what most keyboard feet do, which is tilt your keyboard up and towards you). Both of these keep your wrist neutral/in slight flexion, wher…
Interestingly, vertical mice I've tried (yes plural) feel intensely uncomfortable and make my wrist hurt. I actually quite like to use a trackball, but I'm not sure that did much for me either. Best I've ever done is just use the mouse less I guess. Maybe I'll learn to use a pen tablet as my primary pointing device instead.
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…
Edit: note if you are a typist and transcribe a lot of text for long periods of time without break, typing speed is important. But that’s mostly not any of us. But hey maybe I don’t write enough documentation and comments..
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Typing fast may be the least important thing towards developing a well designed, long-lived product.
you're right. but the ability, given a good idea, to spit out a substantial amount of code that compiles and basically runs in a single session removes alot of the consternation and back and forth in those discussions despite industry motion to the contrary, the truth is that we really can build anything we want. if we just weren't such cowards about it
I guess playing Hanon and scales also counts as meditation (and are useful). After all, they are both called keyboard.
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…
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.
What really turned me into a touch-typist was all the arguing I did over dial-up internet the next summer.