How well do you know your keyboard?
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I never learned to type properly (and with intellisense it doesn't matter) and still sometimes look at the keys when typing. Doing a little experiment here... I just blanked out the letters on mine. I hope I can get some code to compile! p.s. sligtly bored atm
When I took typing in High School in the late '70s, it was manual typewriters with black keys - no letters at all. You learned to type by position because looking down would only help you confirm where your fingers were. The 1 or 2 people that had typewriters with white lettering never really learned to type because they could look down. While I enjoy the 'modern' conveniences - Intellisense, on-line help, etc., has it affected our programming ability? We haven't learned because we don't have to, or, we (of a certain age) learned because we didn't have a choice - pity the new generation.
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I never learned to type properly (and with intellisense it doesn't matter) and still sometimes look at the keys when typing. Doing a little experiment here... I just blanked out the letters on mine. I hope I can get some code to compile! p.s. sligtly bored atm
I can constantly type 100+ words/min. I could type faster than that, but accounting error correction, etc. It's usually just above 100 words a minute. I think my best was a 131 words per minute as measured by one of those online typing game thingies.
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I'm pretty good: I did a computer typing course - Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing - back in the eighties and have never looked back. Looking at the keyboard slows you down far too much, but you do get used to a particular keyboard, or I do. When I finally retired my original one (it was twenty years old) most of the key legends had worn off but I was still a heck of a lot slower on the new one because the key size and position was slightly different, too small and cramped. My current Logitech is good, nice keys, comfortable to use, and all in the "right place" except the "Delete" key which is double size.
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
I'm another graduate of Mavis's school but I originally learned to type on a manual typewriter so it took me a long time to learn not to hammer the keys. I wish that we'd been able to type at school because the main reason that I never got on was that I struggle to write by hand, especially when forced to use some ridiculous device like a fountain pen*. *If you don't know what a fountain pen is, ask your granddad!
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I never learned to type properly (and with intellisense it doesn't matter) and still sometimes look at the keys when typing. Doing a little experiment here... I just blanked out the letters on mine. I hope I can get some code to compile! p.s. sligtly bored atm
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I'm another graduate of Mavis's school but I originally learned to type on a manual typewriter so it took me a long time to learn not to hammer the keys. I wish that we'd been able to type at school because the main reason that I never got on was that I struggle to write by hand, especially when forced to use some ridiculous device like a fountain pen*. *If you don't know what a fountain pen is, ask your granddad!
When I first went to school, our desks still had inkwells! They no longer put ink in them, but the receptacle was there - and we used "cartridge" pens instead of the "pull the lever to suck it up" type. I was the last year that wasn't allowed to use a calculator in our exams, IIRC.
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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When I first went to school, our desks still had inkwells! They no longer put ink in them, but the receptacle was there - and we used "cartridge" pens instead of the "pull the lever to suck it up" type. I was the last year that wasn't allowed to use a calculator in our exams, IIRC.
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
We must be of a pretty similar vintage. My Maths 'O' level was the first (and last) time that I was ever allowed to use a calculator at school and I think we were the first year for that. We still had to show our log calculations so I don't think I actually used it anyway. We did shift to cartridge pens but they were every bit as horrible to use as fountain pens. I have no idea why the school placed the humble biro on the official list of THINGS THAT CAN ONLY POSSIBLY BE THE WORK OF SATAN but as I recall, anyone found using one was bludgeoned to death prior to expulsion.
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We must be of a pretty similar vintage. My Maths 'O' level was the first (and last) time that I was ever allowed to use a calculator at school and I think we were the first year for that. We still had to show our log calculations so I don't think I actually used it anyway. We did shift to cartridge pens but they were every bit as horrible to use as fountain pens. I have no idea why the school placed the humble biro on the official list of THINGS THAT CAN ONLY POSSIBLY BE THE WORK OF SATAN but as I recall, anyone found using one was bludgeoned to death prior to expulsion.
I'm young, still no biro allowed until high school. Cartridge pens or fountain pens only - a PITA. Considering that I had a crazy teacher who would throw my desk upside down (on me) because "I was untidy!!!" breaking each and every nib of my pens... First High School year I bough a 50 bic pack and never turned back.
GCS d--- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L- E-- W++ N++ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t++ 5? X R++ tv-- b+ DI+++ D++ G e++>+++ h--- ++>+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP. -- TNCaver When I was six, there were no ones and zeroes - only zeroes. And not all of them worked. -- Ravi Bhavnani
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I hunt and peck. Apparently I peck quite hard as well much to the disdain of my colleagues.
With old spring-keyed IBM keyboards either you pecked hard or you did not peck at all!
GCS d--- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L- E-- W++ N++ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t++ 5? X R++ tv-- b+ DI+++ D++ G e++>+++ h--- ++>+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP. -- TNCaver When I was six, there were no ones and zeroes - only zeroes. And not all of them worked. -- Ravi Bhavnani
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I'm pretty good: I did a computer typing course - Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing - back in the eighties and have never looked back. Looking at the keyboard slows you down far too much, but you do get used to a particular keyboard, or I do. When I finally retired my original one (it was twenty years old) most of the key legends had worn off but I was still a heck of a lot slower on the new one because the key size and position was slightly different, too small and cramped. My current Logitech is good, nice keys, comfortable to use, and all in the "right place" except the "Delete" key which is double size.
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
OriginalGriff wrote:
I'm pretty good: I did a computer typing course - Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing
Memories! That was a 'big seller' when I was trying to make a living as a shareware distributor. All of my kids used that and touch type. Myself? "Forced" to take typing in Junior High School (8th grade) on a real old-style (even for then) mechanical typewriter. My fingers have since become a bit gnarled, but I can still do 80 wpm bursts. Fortunately, with coding, typing is pretty much done in bursts. (that's 5-6 chars/second). Nothing like the speed of keyboard pros nor their sustainability. A neat thing is having your fingers move so fast that few if any people could follow their motion to get a password.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010
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With old spring-keyed IBM keyboards either you pecked hard or you did not peck at all!
GCS d--- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L- E-- W++ N++ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t++ 5? X R++ tv-- b+ DI+++ D++ G e++>+++ h--- ++>+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP. -- TNCaver When I was six, there were no ones and zeroes - only zeroes. And not all of them worked. -- Ravi Bhavnani
(I will not make comments about a hard pecker) (I will not make comments about a hard pecker) (I will not make comments about a hard pecker) (I will not make comments about a hard pecker) (I will not make comments about a hard pecker) (I will not make comments about a hard pecker) (I will not make comments about a hard pecker) (I will not make comments about a hard pecker) (I will not make comments about a hard pecker) (I will not make comments about a hard pecker) (I will not make comments about a hard pecker) Damn - the flesh is weak.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010
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I never learned to type properly (and with intellisense it doesn't matter) and still sometimes look at the keys when typing. Doing a little experiment here... I just blanked out the letters on mine. I hope I can get some code to compile! p.s. sligtly bored atm
I forced myself to learn to touch type on a Commodore PET (thankfully one with a real keyboard, not the chicklet thing). It was a bit painful -- make a mistake, delete it (oops, that wasn't the delete key) and then try another key, oops, that was the same one, etc. But at this point, the only time I've looked at the keyboard in recent memory was to find the
`character as I never type it but I needed to for some unknown reason. At one point I was using three different keyboards, two almost simultaneously (I was developing on one machine and testing on another) and I got good enough that I could look at the keyboard for a minute or so, learn where to position my hands, and off I'd go. MarcImperative to Functional Programming Succinctly Contributors Wanted for Higher Order Programming Project! Learning to code with python is like learning to swim with those little arm floaties. It gives you undeserved confidence and will eventually drown you. - DangerBunny
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I never learned to type properly (and with intellisense it doesn't matter) and still sometimes look at the keys when typing. Doing a little experiment here... I just blanked out the letters on mine. I hope I can get some code to compile! p.s. sligtly bored atm
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I never learned to type properly (and with intellisense it doesn't matter) and still sometimes look at the keys when typing. Doing a little experiment here... I just blanked out the letters on mine. I hope I can get some code to compile! p.s. sligtly bored atm
Keyboard bumps helped me a lot to type faster. You can use it to correctly position your left and right hand on the keyboard without having to look at the keyboard.
