Again I Don t Now Why I m Tpying This
by Matthew Burfield
I learned to touch type at the ripe one-time age of 29. Was it worth information technology?
I recently read an article that said, in it's simplest form, that programming is merely pressing keys on a keyboard.
Fundamentally, programmers are typists! We merely happen to press the keys in a specific society that allows compilers to read the combinations of characters, and catechumen them into machine lawmaking.
Therefore, if you are a ho-hum typer, it won't affair how great your IDE is, or how great your text editor is, or how productive you think your workflow is. You'll e'er be bottlenecked past your typing speed.
Now, I've heard the argument made that, every bit a programmer, typing speed isn't so of import. You should spend most of your time thinking about a given trouble/solution, every bit opposed to actually typing.
I tend to hold. Merely, all things being equal, I'd nevertheless rather type faster so I tin can get on to the next problem every bit rapidly as possible. After all, over the course of my career, I plan to be writing tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of lines of code. That'due south a lot of typing.
Assessing my skills
Don't get me wrong, my typing speed wasn't horrible. I was typing at around 40 words per minute, which is apparently right around the average (although I couldn't discover any definitive sources). I could even mostly type without looking at the keyboard. Over the years, I had developed a pretty sketchy style where I used four fingers — my ii index and middle fingers.
I instinctively knew where they alphabetic keys on the keyboard were, simply would even so need to look downward every now and then. Specially for numbers, symbols, and punctuation (commas, full stops, etc).
I knew I could be more than efficient. What was the harm in attempting to blazon with all x fingers for a month and seeing how it went? I could always revert back if I didn't encounter any improvements.
So, at the ripe old historic period of 29, I decided it was almost fourth dimension I taught myself how to affect blazon.
Getting started with the right program
I did a Google search for learning to touch type, and the starting time website that came up was TypingClub. It'due south free and has a dainty interface, so I went with that.
It'south been nearly a calendar month since I started, and have put 14 hours and 44 minutes of do into information technology.
As you lot can see, I only started on the 31st of July, and my speed (wpm — orange line) has been steadily increasing over fourth dimension.
After only ane calendar month, my typing speed has already improved by 10wpm. My code coverage of the keyboard has gotten ameliorate, too. It hasn't exactly been polish sailing, but it hasn't exactly been hard either.
Here are my notes from each week.
Week 1
Boilerplate typing speed for the week: 15wpm
The kickoff few days were pretty basic. I started off learning one key at a time. Progression feels quick as yous larn knew keys — after an hour or and then of practice, I already had three quarters of the alphabet under my chugalug. Typing felt pretty good and it was relatively easy.
Just attempting to use my newly acquired typing skills in the existent earth was a full disaster.
Not simply was I slow, but I was incredibly inaccurate. This made everything I did super unproductive and frustrating. Needless to say couldn't use my touch typing skills in the real globe yet.
Week 2
Boilerplate typing speed for the week: 22wpm
After the 2nd calendar week, I had covered all of the alphabet and some numbers.
Just it was interesting: the shift fundamental on the right side of the keyboard was totally strange to me and I'd never used information technology before. With touch typing, you utilize the correct shift to capitalize the left hand keys, and the left shift central to capitalize the correct hand keys.
Typing in the real world was still likewise slow. I still hadn't had enough practice typing on all the keys, peculiarly symbol keys which are used all the time in programming.
Week iii
Average typing speed: 39 wpm
Week 3 downwardly and I've finally covered the unabridged keyboard. I'm already typing as fast as I was before I started. It'due south crazy! After only three weeks of deliberate practice I'm already typing as fast as I was with my former method.
I'm fifty-fifty able to start bear on typing in existent world scenarios!
There are ii major things slowing me downwardly at the moment:
- It takes me a 2d but to line upwardly my fingers over the right keys. I accept to position my left fingers over the a,south,d,f keys, and my right fingers over the j,k,l,; keys. It's important that I position them correctly starting time, equally otherwise my accurateness goes waaaaaay down.
- In touch typing, yous use your correct pinky finger for a agglomeration of keys (see below). I'm still pretty inefficient and inaccurate at hit all of them, and I use them all the time in programming.
That's a lot of ground to encompass for the right pinky. And it volition definitely take me a while longer to get efficient with information technology.
It'south no surprise that TypingClub shows my right pinky finger to exist my to the lowest degree efficient finger.
Then far, I'm well-nigh 70% of the way though TypingClub. There isn't really anything more to learn, so it's just practice at this betoken. I'm going to try to cease it. I'grand currently typing at around 50 wpm on average, and my best has been effectually 61 wpm. My accurateness usually hovers around 95%.
Conclusion
I think this i-calendar month investment to upgrade my typing fashion has been well worth information technology. I saw my typing speed meliorate dramatically in weeks three and four, with the potential now for information technology to improve even more.
I've already surpassed my previous typing speeds, and can use my touch typing in the wild now without feeling frustrated.
The most annoying part of affect typing right now is that, most of the fourth dimension, I'm only typing minor amounts. Like, a couple of words. And it takes a relatively long time just to position my hands correctly on the keyboard. No doubt this volition improve over fourth dimension as I go along to become more familiar with touch on typing.
I also need to amend my accurateness for numbers and sybmols — but again, this volition come with fourth dimension.
Overall I'yard really thankful I took the time to upgrade this skill. I'grand sure it will server me well over my career.
If y'all enjoyed this mail service, please give me some claps so more people come across it. Thanks!
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Source: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/i-learned-to-touch-type-at-the-ripe-old-age-of-29-was-it-worth-it-112ef2150fec/
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