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Ask Slashdot: Typing Advice For a Guinness World Record Attempt?
An anonymous reader writes "In fifth grade, I amazed my fellow classmates when I demonstrated what 132 words per minute looked like. Recently, an acquaintance of mine saw me typing out a word document for graduate school and was impressed by my typing abilities. He suggested that I seriously contemplate attempting a Guinness World Record with such abilities. At the moment, I can manage an average of about 155-160 words per minute, with bursts around 180-185 words per minute (in the typing world, five characters defines a word, in case you were wondering). That aside, I have a few questions to pose to Slashdot readers (whom I am sure have been typing much longer than I have): What are some tips to fully maximize one's ability to type at the fastest possible rate? Do you have any specific keyboard recommendations that will improve my speed? Has anybody here ever competed in a typing event or thought about going for the world record? Is it worth learning Dvorak for the sole purpose of attempting such a record? How difficult would it be to improve my typing abilities from where they are now to where they need to be to acquire such a record?"
Most /.ers are far from good typists. You can tell by the typos.
In the editing world, editors edit documents in the editing world in case you were wondering.
Cotnact me if your gonig for teh recrod. I am a nexpret in tiipyng and can gvie you ltos of usfeul tips .
My first program:
Hell Segmentation fault
PS2 VS USB?
what one can handle faster input?
I'm a speedtypist as well (130-150WPM average, 160+ bursts) the issue that you will run into is that it gets incredibly hard to add the extra WPM, and last I checked your goal is above 200.
Good luck but you generally peak out eventually.
Try a keyboard with mechanical switches. They're a bit noisier than the cheap ones, but I find them much faster and I make fewer typos. My fingers also get less tired. You might be able to scrape out another percent or so.
I've never had a Slashdot account, though I've been posting here for years. Your sort of bigotry is not nearly incentive enough.
I've had several dozen +5 first posts over the years, and have made a positive contribution to many discussions.
What does it matter what silly pseudonym is displayed above a good comment, or how many digits are in the number next to it?
Even if the submission is completely made up, the discussion will still be meaningful.
Now on topic: if the submitter's been typing QWERTY mad-fast since fifth grade or before, I find it hard to believe he can do any better with Dvorak.
According to Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Words_per_minute
The fastest typing speed ever, 216 words in one minute, was achieved by Stella Pajunas in 1946 on an IBM electric.[6][7][8][9] As of 2005, writer Barbara Blackburn was the fastest English language typist in the world, according to The Guinness Book of World Records. Using the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard, she has maintained 150 wpm for 50 minutes, and 170 wpm for shorter periods. She has been clocked at a peak speed of 212 wpm.
One of the most notable online records considered genuine is 256 wpm (a record caught on video) on TypeRacer by American Sean Wrona, the inaugural Ultimate Typing Championship winner, which is considered the highest legitimate score ever set on the site.
Things you think are in the Constitution, but are not.
- Practice, Practice, Practice- --10,000,000 anonymous piano teachers
- See the ball, be the ball- --Chevy Chase in "Caddyshack"
- Use the force, Luke- --Obiwan Kenobi in , you know, that one show...
- Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be- --Johnny Cash-- "Cocaine Blues"
What can I say, go for the record.
I had a friend, of simple mind and scheming disposition, who in his drifting sought donations to fund his time and sojourn to Ireland to demonstrate for Guinness his ability to bicycle backwards continually. For months he drifted around the country putting on exhibitions and demonstrations of his talent amassing quite a warchest. He traveled to Ireland, pretty much free of charge and being free of responsibility for months in pursuit of his dream. He did then bicycle around the Guinness buildings for 24 hours and change , setting the record. The next week a local Irish held the record. There are no losers in this story. Cheers and Happy Holidays!
*Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
I understand why you asked for advice, but I think your reasoning is flawed (ie. your assumption that Slashdotters would know technical stuff about typing). As an IT worker who can type at a good (for an IT guy) rate, my observation is that I am lots faster than most IT people and I am not even close to being fast enough to do secretarial work. Most IT people are terrible at typing. It's not that uncommon to find 2 finger typists in IT. Since a lot of Slashdotters are IT geeks, you're asking the wrong folks to begin with. I'm sure we'll get a few people to post who are the exception to the rule, but again, they are the exceptions.
Dvorak has its detractors and fans. You'll likely get some who swear that only by using it can you achieve your goal and they will possibly cite some studies to back this up. Then others will cite their own studies that show that QWERTY is even faster than Dvorak. I've seen QWERTY vs. Dvorak religious wars here and I doubt that you'll come away convinced of anything.
It might be redundant but he/she typed the sentence really fast.
Yes, but if you read it really fast you don' t notice the redundancy. Think of it as ECC or parity.
Why is there an "insightful" mod and why isn't it "-1"? If I wanted insight, I wouldn't be reading
He already said his native language was dutch. Overall his English was very good. It was much better than the majority of native English speakers.
Don't be a dick.
Then learn how to speed talk and use voice to text. You'll never type as fast as that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Words_per_minute#Speech_and_listening
Simple: In a discussion, I like to know if discussing with the same person, a different person, or with several people.
I also prefer some level of surety that the person I'm replying to might actually read it.
I do realize that logging in on /. offers no guarantee of either of these things, but it's a start.
Meanwhile, I killfile all reply notifications that come from Anonymous Cowards because doing so makes discussing things on /. feel more like conversing with humans instead of talking at a wall.
If I wanted an anonymous place to randomly comment on the world with no sense of personification, I'd just go over to pastebin and be ignored there instead.
Kid-proof tablet..
<movietrailervoice>"In a world where all words are five letters... one man can make the difference between brilliance and darkness..."</movietrailervoice>
"Innna world where allll words arrre fiive lttrs... onnne mannn cannn maake theee dfrnc betwn brlnc annnd drkns..."