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What Does a Coder Do If They Can't Type?

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Re: What Does a Coder Do If They Can't Type?

#281

Post by corporealfunk »

When I was in college (almost 20 years ago), I was studying music (piano and electronic music/synthesis) which involved many hours at both a piano keyboard and computer keyboard. In my junior year I had intense pain in my wrists and had to ask my CS profs and music profs for extra time to complete assignments. They obliged, and it took about a year of visiting several PTs, doctors and finally a body worker trained in PT to resolve it. She knew that my pain was "referred" pain from nerve issues in my arms and torso (caused of course by bad ergonomics). The wrists were not damaged, only "feeling" the pain from nerves further up the arms that had become constricted. Through simple stretches and good desk ergonomics I have been pain free since.

I highly recommend the book "Comfort at Your Computer: Body Awareness Training for Pain-Free Computer Use" by Paul Linden. Also "The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook" for info on referred pain and self massage techniques to help alleviate it.

Re: What Does a Coder Do If They Can't Type?

#282

Post by house9-2 »

albinowax_ wrote: post #236
house9-2 wrote: post #22

My career in Software would be over if it wasn't for voicecode.io and now Talon. I go through periods where typing does not bother me at all and long periods of intense random pain in forearms, wrists, palms and top of my hands. Certain aspects of controlling your computer by voice are way more efficient than using a keyboard, others not so much. Lucky for me using a mouse does not bother me that much so I continue t…

Is moving somewhere that does pair programming a workable option in this situation?

I have pair programmed off and on, both in person and remote; yes it helps because you are typing less, but sometimes you end up being the driver for long sessions so it is not perfect.

Re: What Does a Coder Do If They Can't Type?

#284

Post by house9-2 »

danenania wrote: post #117

Wow, Talon looks very interesting. For those who have gotten up to speed with it (or something similar like VoiceCode), how long did it take you to get reasonably productive? Also, is anyone out there working on a voice control VSCode plugin with deep TypeScript integration? I'd imagine the TS language server and programmability of VSCode could allow you to do some amazing things with voice.

Voice programming takes a fair amount of effort to get started with, however once you have your microphone dialed and are getting good recognition you can take 'baby steps' and start augmenting your workflow to include voice.

i.e. with Talon the alphabet is custom, so once you learn that you can do a lot with just `cmd+tab` `cmd+A`, `cmd+C`, etc... and it is customizable using python scripting so you can simplify many common tasks.

I believe there is a VSCode plugin for Talon, I personally use Atom.

Certain things are tedious with voice coding, like typing common abbreviated words like `args`; with Talon you have a few options, spell it out: `arch red gust sun` or use the `shrink` command `shrink arguments` or if you use it a lot you can come up with your own customized word for it; also words that sound the same but are spelled differently: `two`, `to`, `too` or even `2`

Re: What Does a Coder Do If They Can't Type?

#285

Post by mostlyjason »

rkagerer wrote: post #241

Developed RSI 15 years ago, tried all kinds of contraptions. Here's what helped me: - Kinesis Advantage keyboard w/ footswitch https://kinesis-ergo.com/products/#keyboards - Ambidextrous mousing (one on each side, to split the load). Favor your PageUp / PageDown buttons over the evil mousewheel. - Lifestyle changes (biggest bang for the buck). Try to get at least 20 minutes of aerobic exercise in each day, e.g. runni…

Huh interesting any reference on your claim that the tongue can’t get RSI?

Re: What Does a Coder Do If They Can't Type?

#286

Post by latchkey »

TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #77
melling wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t suppose this could be translated into specific exercises in the gym?

Search for climbing fingerboard or hangboard. Good for fixing or hang above a door way. You don't need to actively climb on these, hanging from the holds will do the trick and reduce the possibility of dynamic loads.

I used this as well. Same issue as bouldering. It tends to stress the joints too much.

For whatever reason, regular climbing is better. Probably because there is more 'levels' and thus less immediate stress. You can't really climb to the top of an indoor route until you can learn and get the strength to do it.

With fingerboards you try to see how much you can tolerate and tend to over do it. It also is more of a static movement. Grab and hold. Where top rope climbing is more dynamic... you're constantly moving up the wall in various poses.

Re: What Does a Coder Do If They Can't Type?

#287

Post by vogelke »

bspammer wrote: post #206
hilyen wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Definitely interested. I’ll check it out. Same boat, software engineer, my index and middle finger main knuckles on both hands inflame from the slightest use even after years of therapy, doctors visits, etc. Also tendinitis in both elbows/arms. Note to those who are pushing off fixing your ergonomics, don’t. If you feel pain, numbing, tingling; do not ignore it. Listen to your body, don’t be like me.

I'm 23 and have been using computers very heavily for the last 10 or so years - probably an average of 6 hours a day. During a particularly intensive day of typing last week I started getting pain in my right hand. I had to resort to hunt-and-peck index finger typing to get the feature I was working on finished. I'm horrified, it feels like I'm way too early in my career for something like this to happen, but I guess…

> What in particular have you found success with that helps?

* I bought two bathroom mats from Krogers, wrapped them around the arms of my office chair, and duct-taped them in place. Looks like hell, feels soft and cushy.

* I bought a bunch of those practice tennis balls (the wimpy kind that don't bounce worth a damn) and have one at home, one at work for squeezing when I take a break or watch TV.

* I wear one of those Ace bandage thingies around my right forearm.

* I have one of those ergonomic keyboards from Microsoft. Huge improvement.

* THE MOST HELPFUL: I do curls and range-of-motion exercises with 10-lb dumbbells when watching TV. Nothing dramatic, a few sets of 30-40 curls plus rotating my wrists, and then some leaning-over pushups against the couch. You wouldn't believe how much better I started feeling.

Re: What Does a Coder Do If They Can't Type?

#288

Post by curioussavage »

Stratoscope wrote: post #135
tomc1985 wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ergonomic keyboards with a split down the middle may help with this greatly.

Indeed, that is one of the purposes of those keyboards. For myself, I love the TrackPoint so much that I can't bear the thought of using any other kind of keyboard with only a touchpad or a mouse. So standard ThinkPad keyboards it is for me. I even use a USB ThinkPad keyboard on my desktop at work!

I have the “ultimate hacking keyboard” and one of the thumb modules they have planned is a track point.

Re: What Does a Coder Do If They Can't Type?

#289

Post by nufohede »

brians wrote: post #274
throwaway61292 wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you elaborate on somethings you wish you had done. I get a bit of pain after half a day of coding, mostly my right pinky after hitting enter multiple times. Also get pain after certain activities like rolling food into a ball for my toddlers. I’ve joint pains here and there and the doctors have not yet found the cause and think it’s early onset of arthritis and have been told to take pain killers. I’m 39 by the w…

Lots of good advice here. Ergo keyboards (I like the kinesis advantage, and they last decades) and breaks worked for me. Dvorak is mostly useful because you have to relearn it, and might learn it without whatever broken ideas your body has about QWERTY. Chair adjustments are huge. Get a steelcase chair—I like the leap. Have it adjusted by a pro, whose biggest advantages are being able to see what you really do as you…

Just adding another data point, my Kinesis Advantage only lasted 6 months before it started experiencing phantom key strokes.

Sending it in to get repaired would have costed almost as much as getting a new keyboard since I don’t live in the US.

I replaced it with a Microsoft Sculpt that has lasted for years now.

Re: What Does a Coder Do If They Can't Type?

#290

Post by elevenoh »

hilyen wrote: post #157
mwiethoff wrote: post #115

I developed an RSI a few years ago, and I had to leave my job. It was devastating to lose both my career and my passion to an injury. Since then, I've been working with a friend on a new voice coding app called Serenade [1] that aims to enable anyone to program by voice. With Serenade, you can speak natural English voice commands like "delete second function" and "add class person". Not only can this be faster than t…

Definitely interested. I’ll check it out. Same boat, software engineer, my index and middle finger main knuckles on both hands inflame from the slightest use even after years of therapy, doctors visits, etc. Also tendinitis in both elbows/arms. Note to those who are pushing off fixing your ergonomics, don’t. If you feel pain, numbing, tingling; do not ignore it. Listen to your body, don’t be like me.

Had a similar issue.

Then I went zerocarb and it faded fairly quickly.

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