Forty years of programming

I didn't quite make it to forty years, but I think I could say I made it to 37 (1983-2020). I've also spent more time than the average programmer writing on a computer, and I've never had any significant RSI-type issues. This might be a bit controversial, but I think part of the reason is that I'm not a traditional touch typist. That's not to say I'm slow, either. I've probably worked with well over a thousand other programmers, and the only person I'm sure was faster wasn't any of them. It was my mother, who was a professional typesetter longer than I was a professional programmer. Only a handful of other programmers have even seemed close.

So, why do I think that relates to my lack of RSI problems? Because with my seven(ish) finger method my hands constantly rove over the keyboard. What they don't do is stay in one fixed location, with the wrists in the same (usually somewhat awkward) position as only the fingers move. That maximizes repetition - the R in RSI. Minimizing hand motion this way is bad. If you want your hands and wrists to stay healthy you have to keep them moving, just like any other muscle/tendon/ligament complex in any other part of your body. It's silly to think that the general rules of exercise and flexibility don't apply to hands.

I suspect they are especially at risk. Guy I worked for used to climb and switched to a track ball. When I got into chin ups in a big way within a few months I had some new hand pain. Also heard rock climbing is a young person's game, not that many gray beards, likely because of the toll.

I've also spent breaks between classes in primary school, at age 6-7, by writing BASIC programs on graph paper. Within a year or 2 I've transitioned to writing in Forth for XZ Spectrum. I used a Roland DX 80 plotter to "print" my source code. I've even sold plotted images from AutoCAD 1.0 for DOS.

I've also learnt Z80 assembly at the same time, coz the "4th Forth by Fébert Csaba for ZX Spectrum" had built-in assembly too.

I've seen my father designing and building a ZX Spectrum clone from scratch. He did explain the process too, so I got to know how a CPU+ALU+RAM+BUS+IO made up a computer.

So I very much consider those years part of my programming career, because they were very much formative and it was a continuum as programming became my career.

Also, don't forget, that all this was cutting edge shit, because there wasn't anything better available for affordable prices for everyday ppl!

even access to the ZX Spectrum was only possible for me, because my father could bring it home from work for the weekends and I could use it a little bit after school, at the University he worked at. my classmates never even saw any kind of computer up close, other than LCD wrist watches...

I'm curious if typing speed is any indicator of problems, or lack of problems. Per previous comment, I've been "typing" for over 40 years, no real problems, and am a really, really fast typer. My hands don't spend a lot of time locked in one particular position, and my fingers are moving all kinds of ways constantly when typing. Just a thought.

inoremap kj

:)