Beyond Dvorak via Genetic Algorithm

ColonelPanic writes: "I switched my computer keyboard to the Dvorak layout about a year ago. But now I've gone and done something really outlandish. I tried to discover the most efficient layout possible with a genetic algorithm. It's weird-looking, but I am typing with it now. I put the gory details up on the Web."

Comments

This genetic algorithm doesn't have sex

[XNormal]

According to the description in the article the algorithm has random seeding, mutations, a ranking function and survival of the fittest - but it doesn't have genetic exchange. New layouts are not chosen as combinations of two or more existing layouts.

Genetic exchange is very important for rapid evolution. The Earth was just a big bacterial soup for two billion years. Then sex was invented and then things started to get more interesting very quickly.

Re:This genetic algorithm doesn't have sex

[ajs]

I find it interesting and somewhat disappointing that the parent article was moderated funny just because it used the word sex. Exchange of "genetic" material is not always a part of genetic algorithms, but it's certainly an "interesting" topic in that context and it was fairly "insightful" of XNormal to bring it up.

Oh well.

Vindication...

[Junta]

His little test is a neat idea. The one potential cause for concenr I could see would be that he was influenced by literature praising dvorak in defining penalties for various tasks. I personally think the penalities are likely accurate, but to a QWERTY advocate, research that show dvorak is bette rby using dvorak based criteria would be begging the question...

That aside, I really agree that dvorak is a better keyboard layout, and his final layout's resemblance to dvorak testifies to the advantage of dvorak. I've never been able to type fast at al in QWERTY, and it always hurts quickly (unless I hunt and peck, which is my general method). With dvorak I can touch type comfortably for a long time, and much faster as well. While his final keyboard layout may be marginally better than dvorak, dvorak remains the better choice for much the same reason qwerty is used, you can set up a dvorak layout on almost any system and os, but with this funky layout, you need to be running X....

Re:True story from support desk hell

[Hollins]

Actually, I think this is a good example of how product design should be driven by observing how people try to use things. A physically-remappable keyboard could be a good thing. I'd probably buy one.

C code?

[ForceOfWill]

I limited this experiment to the 30 keys under the four fingers of the two hands. They include the 26 letters of the English alphabet and four punctuation symbols (comma, period, quote, and semicolon). (A QWERTY layout typically has the slash in this region instead of quote.) Other punctuation was ignored. ... I also needed a corpus of sample text... I added... about 100,000 lines of C code.

Am I the only one who thinks optimizing for C code is silly when you ignore vital symbols like braces, brackets, and numbers even? At least he included the semicolon.