I'd like to see that AI project ran on different codebases. For example, a C++ corpus is going to be weighted differently than a Python one.
An AI designed keyboard layout (2021)
31–40 of 147 posts
Re: An AI designed keyboard layout (2021)
#32Dvorak is one of the well-known layouts and even now we can't have it on the iPad, so I don't think keyboard layout is only about efficiency it's also popularity and availability.
Re: An AI designed keyboard layout (2021)
#33Why is the enter key and backspace out of scope for optimization? Makes no sense to exclude those.
Re: An AI designed keyboard layout (2021)
#34After having tried Dvorak for a couple of days (weeks?) a couple years back, I found my peace with the american default layout. Typing on dvorak was fun, and the learning process was really fun, too - fighting two decades of muscle memory was quite the experience. But at some point I realized that I now have to adapt all the bindings - without a solution to this, I'm not willing to try out different stuff. I need vi…
Is it possible to use a keyboard layout when typing text, but revert to QWERTY when doing ctrl+V or other key combinations?
At the most basic level, you could simply have the keyboard layout change whenever Ctrl, Alt, or Meta/Super is pressed...
Re: An AI designed keyboard layout (2021)
#35The problem with any non-QWERTY keyboard layout is that all app and web shortcuts go out the window. You want to save an image for the web? Good luck growing a third hand. Want to open the quick menu on a site using ⌘+/, but your / key is only accessible using the shift key? Tough luck. Need to change the font size in your editor? Just navigate down these 3 easy sub-menus, because the keyboard shortcut for that is already reassigned to alleviate one of the other 300 broken shortcuts.
Re: An AI designed keyboard layout (2021)
#36The problem with any non-QWERTY keyboard layout is that all app and web shortcuts go out the window. You want to save an image for the web? Good luck growing a third hand. Want to open the quick menu on a site using ⌘+/, but your / key is only accessible using the shift key? Tough luck. Need to change the font size in your editor? Just navigate down these 3 easy sub-menus, because the keyboard shortcut for that is al…
There's definitely some issues, but since lots of normal people already use different keyboards for language reasons, this isn't as bad as you make out.
The built in Dvorak on the Mac has an option to let the keys go back to normal for CMD usage, though I prefer learning them as typable letters than physically located chords.
Re: An AI designed keyboard layout (2021)
#37Alternative keyboard layouts are fascinating, but always raise a couple of questions for me and I wonder if anyone here can come up with actual experiences regarding the following topics:
- I have been using standard german QWERTZ for about 42 years now, in average certainly not less than 3 hours every day. I was originally educated in proper 10 finger blind typing in a dedicated typing school as part of my typesetter apprenticeship. I am typing really fast. Today I am even using "daskeyboard ultimate" - a completely unlabeled keyboard. Is it really possible to improve 42 years typing practice with a new layout?
- Is it possible to be proficient in two keyboard layouts at the same time? I have a partial answer myself. For one, I managed to learn standard Emacs shortcuts (a lot of them!) some of which contradict common OS shortcuts (like copy/paste etc) and I have both sets in muscle memory and I can seamlessly switch between both sets as I switch applications (most of the time that is). And I use three computers with three OSs (Linux, Win, Mac) with one keyboard per Synergy software. Same layout for the standard characters, but different OS specific layouts for special characters like "@", "€" etc. I can seamlessly switch between them as well and that is the reason for the unlabeled keyboard. A labeled keyboard would show only one layout and puzzle me if I had to enter special characters for another. So, while I know I can handle some number of characters in alternate layouts in muscle memory - will this be possible for the entire character set as well?
- If you get accustomed to a non-standard keyboard layout, isn't it a problem if you have to use some other computer (where you cannot change the layout) for whatever reason, for example in an Internet cafe?
Re: An AI designed keyboard layout (2021)
#38After having tried Dvorak for a couple of days (weeks?) a couple years back, I found my peace with the american default layout. Typing on dvorak was fun, and the learning process was really fun, too - fighting two decades of muscle memory was quite the experience. But at some point I realized that I now have to adapt all the bindings - without a solution to this, I'm not willing to try out different stuff. I need vi…
Is it possible to use a keyboard layout when typing text, but revert to QWERTY when doing ctrl+V or other key combinations? At the most basic level, you could simply have the keyboard layout change whenever Ctrl, Alt, or Meta/Super is pressed...
Yes, Mac OS has this built in as one of their Dvorak options.
Re: An AI designed keyboard layout (2021)
#39This feels like over fitting if it's not allowed to make basic changes like a capslock being control when held and escape when used on its own.
There's a bunch of things like that which would have a bigger impact if they could be measured but are ignored by this methodology.
I use standard Dvorak, but thumb keys are the real game changer (the Kinesis introduced me to them) so CMD keys that act as backspace and enter when used alone are good, as is using space as a shift key to get numbers and symbols.
Two keys (j+k) at once for esc and : and home row mods are other quantum leaps.
Oh and the data is from non-ortholinear keyboards, so will be skewed for non staggered keyboards.
Re: An AI designed keyboard layout (2021)
#40Apart from the technical merits, I always appreciate "hacker" naming of software. "The name is a combination of HAL-9000, as a reference to the layout being designed by an AI. And, Dvorak as a gratitude to Mr. Dvorak for his dedication to the layouts optimizations process. The letter m in between is just to make it sound nicer. Or is it!?..." I suppose the "m" is for MadRabbit, the author. Nice touch.
> I suppose the "m" is for MadRabbit, the author.
My first thought was that he had put "Colemak" into the word mix. (https://colemak.com/>)