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Keyboard lets people type so fast it’s banned from typing competitions

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Re: Keyboard lets people type so fast it’s banned from typing competitions

#461
post #446

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So is it autocorrecting helo to hello? Predictive tweaks aren't good in a keyboard, you want everything to be intentional, or you'll lose time and patience correcting things. Spellcheck should be post hoc imho.

No--the chord for hello is h+e+l+o--if you mean to type helo, you'd use a different chord you have setup for that or type it letter by letter

Ahh, having the option for single entry in combination with word chording makes a difference. I think I'm going to give it a go, this product looks interesting.

Re: Keyboard lets people type so fast it’s banned from typing competitions

#462

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me, it comes down to this line: > have a computer program generate a predicted word Do steno devices do this? This right there easily disqualifies it from competitions. It's like using the keyboard autocomplete. If you're using a machine to predict and correctly type the word for you, it defeats half the point of typing competitions, which is specifically about typing words without typos. The majority of time lost…

stenography involves shorthand. This is what a stenographer is actually typing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Steno-example.gif

But does one given shorthand get hardcoded to go to a single word, or is it using some "autocorrect" system that predicts the word you want? Whatever system this uses seems more powerful than steno to me.

Re: Keyboard lets people type so fast it’s banned from typing competitions

#463
post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Keyboards that use multiplexed row/column electrical matrix will not allow you to detect more than two keys in any box pattern simultaneously. So pressing more than two keys on that virtual steno keyboard is impossible on a regular keyboard (for many key combinations).

The software has a workaround to account for that, as long as you keep one key held down, the "stroke" isn't considered finished. Obviously if you're gonna use it as you daily driver, you'd want to get a NKRO keyboard, but the "hold one key and tap the rest" trick works for the web demo.

Ah, nice, I didn't notice that while trying to use it. :)

Re: Keyboard lets people type so fast it’s banned from typing competitions

#464
post #326
post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Keyboards that use multiplexed row/column electrical matrix will not allow you to detect more than two keys in any box pattern simultaneously. So pressing more than two keys on that virtual steno keyboard is impossible on a regular keyboard (for many key combinations).

multiplexed row/col is not problem here. By adding more components (1 normal diode per key) you can detect all pressed keys. Normal keyboard can detect even 4 keys (not all combination ofc) by clever design.

Yes, but that's usually limited to modifier keys. This app expects the user to use multi-letter key combos, which the keyboards usually don't support. I have several normal keyboards at home and none can deal with that.

Re: Keyboard lets people type so fast it’s banned from typing competitions

#465
post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You type a lot more than 0.5% of the time.

It's a trade-off between spending some time thinking about what should be written, and then typing a little - or spending all the time typing, typing, typing, and rewriting. I don't think I've ever been in a job where I was limited by typing speed.

In my experience, typing early and rapidly iterating and modifying, i.e. thinking on the page, is FAR more effective than spending tons of time in your own head trying to solve the problem elegantly before you ever type anything.

The exception to this might be spending time thinking about the very high level structure you want, since the initial structure you start with can lock you into pattern of trying to solve the problem that might not be the most effective.

Re: Keyboard lets people type so fast it’s banned from typing competitions

#466

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like TypeRacer's approach – your time includes the time it takes you to backspace to fix your mistakes and re-type it correctly.

I don't think it's bad for 'competitive' typing but it's nothing like the real process where fixing mistakes at the end is almost a triviality instead of completely derailing your typing.

For most people, that involves relying on another service ("look to see what words have a red squiggly line under them").

It is not a good way to measure "typing speed".

Re: Keyboard lets people type so fast it’s banned from typing competitions

#467

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actively worked to remove my oh I typed that wrong reflex. Because I need to ready anything important again and I'll click the squiggles. Everything else dosent mattr enughf for me to kare. Or I use with Google voice dictation and just deal with the craziness. Dictated not red

I know someone who makes tons of typos in their regular text, they don't seem to use autocorrect, and it's fucking annoying to try and read what they post. It's common typos like jsut instead of just. They just seem too lazy or indifferent to fix their shit.

You bring it up to them?

My main issue is when I type on the phone the text area is so small it scrolls out of view and the autocorrect puts the wrong stuff all the time. So I actually use voice to text a lot which gives you crazy phonetic sentences that end up being like weird poetry or GPT3 sometimes.

Some people said it was hard to read. So I now set the expectation that hey I'm out for a hike, so I'm not going to type. We can either do a phone call, we can do this later, or you can deal with the phonetic oddities. Usually people opt for the oddities.

That being said I notice my own mistakes much less when I'm in a slack type back and forth convo, I'm optimizing for speed not correctness. Whereas here I'm on a desktop on a 4k monitor with a text box the size of a google doc and taking my time.

Re: Keyboard lets people type so fast it’s banned from typing competitions

#468

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a trade-off between spending some time thinking about what should be written, and then typing a little - or spending all the time typing, typing, typing, and rewriting. I don't think I've ever been in a job where I was limited by typing speed.

Then you should definitely consider switching keyboard layouts to reduce RSI. I did, last week. Going from 80wpm to 30 wpm is definitely a job impediment (in the short term). So many things are keyboard driven: - communicating with peers over slack - writing code / git commands - writing email, comments in HN, documentation, etc. - taking notes in meetings - all the browser shortcuts - all the CLI readline shortcuts

I never thought about RSI, but also I've started having pain/weakness in my right hand last month (that, thankfully, has mostly gone away). The doc said it was tendenitis.

I feel like excessive swipe-typing with my thumb may have contributed more than typing to that; but I also play keyboards and it was scary for a second to have that affected.

I got myself a vertical mouse; will consider using another layout (which one do you use?). I do type at 75-80WPM (including time to fixe typos), can that really cause RSI?

I don't know if I'll be able to pull off even 20wpm with another layout, but looks like it's the next step. Thanks for suggesting it!

Re: Keyboard lets people type so fast it’s banned from typing competitions

#469

In the far distant future, supertypers will use prescience to achieve 10000WPM, like guild navigators

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29816098#29847333 Please refer back here and notice the bias that the thread has taken against me as a sexual assault victim.

The thread has been hijacked with gaslighting and victim blaming, name calling, and unsubstantiated claims including unknowable thoughts on me. Please contact hn@ycombinator.com to support removing this thread if they admins can't apply policy in an unbiased way.

Re: Keyboard lets people type so fast it’s banned from typing competitions

#470

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you have it backwards. the quote that you are referring to, that "a steep learning curve" is a misnomer, means it's a misnomer if by that you mean it's difficult. It's not wrong to say "steep learning curve" if you mean it's easy

That’s not how the phrase is used colloquially. You’re not even wrong, but your prescriptivism is at odds with common parlance.

you were incorrect to describe the wikipedia article as backing your point.

I self labelled as pedantic and pointed to an explanation, that does not make me a prescriptivist, it makes me didactic.

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