Touch Typing for a Developer?

The Whinger asks: "I've been programming in various forms for about 20 years now, and I still can't type. I keep thinking, "I must learn to touch type". Unfortunately, two finger typing, 'touch typing tutorial' into your search engine of choice throws back a minefield of hits. Of course, picking something to try does not guarantee success. Does touch typing help with programming? Do you know of any tutorials that you would recommend or avoid? I can't spend the next forty years two finger typing ;)."

Comments

It ain't gonna happen

[Wonko42]

I never learned to touch type the "correct" way (i.e., homerow keys and all that) but after ten years of programming, I have no trouble pounding out hundreds of words per minute without glancing at the keys. If your hands still haven't gotten the hang of things after twenty years, I seriously doubt you're going to have any luck forcing them to learn.

It really sounds like there's some kind of spinal disconnect going on here. Your fingers should have learned where all the keys are by now, and you should be able to hit them without even thinking about it.

gtypist, tuxtype

[LarryRiedel]

I feel pretty good recommending gtypist for the tty, and tuxtype for the GUI.

I think the ability to have words come out as effortlessly via typing as via speaking is invaluable.

apt-get install tuxtype

apt-get install gtypist

Larry

I touch type, and I program...

[DaveJay]

I learned to type when I was ten years old, on my family's new Atari 800 with a program called MasterType. Unlike everything else I learned on that old machine (BASIC, PILOT, LIFE) I use my touch typing skills on a daily basis, and can hit upwards of 95wpm on a decent day.

There are five benefits to touch typing that I personally reap as a programmer:

1. If I am copying code from a book, or a printout, or notes that I took by hand, I don't have to take my eyes off of the printed material. This is quite helpful, as it means I don't have to find my place on the page every time I look away, then back;

2. I can repeatedly bang out long, descriptive variable names in roughly the same amount of time it would take someone else to hunt-and-peck a short variable name;

3. My comments and error messages tend to be more descriptive and useful, as I don't feel the need to save time and effort by writing in short words and sentences;

4. I can easily write documentation on the fly as I code, since little effort is required to whip out a quick paragraph or two about the code I'm working on;

5. My posts to Slashdot can be made quickly enough to be read by most people, yet still be long enough to warrant an automatic "+1 Informative" from any moderator who doesn't read the whole way through. ;)

-Dave

How I learned how to touch type

[Sevn]

For me it was just getting my head around it. It's logical.

You have ten fingers at your disposal. I used no typing tutors or books or classes.

First, get your pointer fingers on the home keys. F, and J. You'll notice those keys have raised bumps, nubs, or generally feel different than every other key in some way. Line up the rest of your fingers on the keys next to them. Pinkys on A and ":". Rest of your fingers on the keys in between. You'll have a G and H staring back at you.

Next, get a piece of paper. Look at the keys around those "home position" keys. Figure out what keys out of the keys that are left are closest to each finger. Obviously, you'll hit G with your left pointer finger and H with your right pointer finger. Y and U with your right pointer finger and so on. There is an optimal finger for each key starting from that home position. Your pinkies end up hitting lots of keys.

Once you figure out what keys go with what finger,
Start out slow, cheating by looking and type out:

The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy red dog.

Do it again and again and again and again. At some point you'll stop looking.

After that, concentrate on making a letter appear on the screen at random. Try to hit the A without having to look. If you can't, look. Then do it again without looking. Eventually you'll be able to type like you would on a typewriter without having to look for keys. Slowly work in the rest of the keys.

Pitfalls to avoid:

Get used to using the opposite hand to hit the SHIFT key for the other hand.

Learn to use the number keys above your letters instead of the crutch that is the number pad. You'll be much faster if you don't have to move your hands from the home position to hit numbers.

Take your time and don't get discouraged. Every little victory in the form of memorizing where a new letter is without having to look keeps you going.

I'm doing about 90wpm now. A lot of that has to do with spending 10 years on IRC before finally walking away for good. IRC is a great way to get really fast at touch typing.

This is how I did it.

Get "Typing of the Dead." Seriously.

[Gothic_Walrus]

One of the best typing tutors I've ever used is "Typing of the Dead," which you can find for both the PC and the Dreamcast. The game began as "House of the Dead 2," and Sega modified the graphics slightly (all of the characters have keyboards strapped onto their torsos...) and the method of attack. Now, you use your keyboard to kill zombies instead of a light gun.

This program is effective because it's fun. It has a (somewhat pathetic) tutorial mode, and the first level or so in the game is easy. It gets hard very quickly, though. If you want to continue playing, you've got to learn how to touch type, and do it quickly - if you can't type quickly, you're toast. And there's something gratifying about watching the zombies explode into green piles of goo...

If you can find the game (should be less than $20), get it. You won't regret it.

Re:Hundreds?

[Henry V .009]

Anything above 100 wpm would put you in about the top 2/10ths of 1% of typists. Take this test and tell us how you do.