We Are Typists First, Programmers Second

although I do reserve the right to wonder how you manage to program without using your keyboard

I know this is a bit late, but I think by far the best tool for learning to touch type is GNU typist. Give it a go - it’s awesome.

Obviously Dude! I have read your post it quite interesting and it is true that we are typist first and then programmer. I am also a programmer and I starting I have no typing skill that’s why I code so slow after through online typing website http://www.typinghero.com/ I started my typing lessons, after hard practice by day & night I got the speed of typing 120 wpm and its my big achievement now I code very well and fast And I feel so Cool . . . :slight_smile:

Great thing for programmers is to put typing speed in the resume. For this purpose, you need to pass a typing test at http://www.ratatype.com/typing-test/

Yes I now think that faster typing is an essential programming skill!!

After 30 years working in IT:

We no longer have secretary’s, no keypunch operators,
no data entry clerks, to do the typing for us

programmers, teachers, policemen, doctors(MD’s, real doctors),
nurses, clerks, accountants, lawyers etc, all do their
own typing!!!

ALL OF US SHOULD BUILD UP THEIR TYPING TO BE
COMPETETIVE, SOON I EXPECT WELL SEE TYPING
SKILL REQUIREMENTS FOR ALL OF THOSE JOBS!

WHAT EMPLOYER WANTS TO PAY $30 TO $100 PER
HOUR TO A PERSON WHO TYPES 20 WPM!!!

THINK ABOUT IT?

WHAT DO EMPLOYERS WANT, HIGHER PRODUCTIVITY!!
FAST TYPING INCREASES PRODUCTIVITY.

When I started in IT, you would write your code on coding sheets,
pass them on to a typist/ data entry person and forget about it for
3 days to 2 weeks!!!

Now you are on your own!!!

Every job requires much higher productivity, since the advent
of object orient languages!!

C++, java, php, asp are symbol intensive languages!!!

cobol, rpg and ibm assembler languages used a minimal
amount of symbols!! ( the good old days).

Yes fast typing is a productivity booster, so after 29 years of
25 wpm typing, I did several online typing courses ans
now type 60 wouds per minute!!

It took a year doing 2 to 3 hrs per week,
if I did it again, I would do at least 1 hr per day,

I still write my programs on a paper note book(on the subway
or on a bus or in the park or at work!

Desk correct it, them type it in for a compile.
Now 3 times faster than before!

The following naming principles for code have massively improved my typing speeds over the years:

  • all variables are named ‘v’, ‘vv’, ‘vvv’, ‘vvvv’, ‘vvvvv’, ‘vvvvvv’, etc,
  • all methods ‘m’, ‘mm’, ‘mmm’, ‘mmmm’, ‘mmmmm’, ‘mmmmmm’, etc,
  • all classes ‘c’, ‘cc’, ‘ccc’, ‘cccc’, ‘ccccc’, ‘cccccc’ etc.

Note also that by consistently using these conventions (e.g. variable name always starts with v), this really helps readability.

As a hunt-and-peck typist, I average about 1000 VPM (Variable Names Per Minute) - I can get up to 2000 VPM if the method is very long (> 10,000 lines of code).

A big bonus is that this speed increase is found on ANY keyboard - especially on any mobile phone.

Every manager in my company has been so impressed with the productivity increase resulting from this practice, they have made it mandatory for all software developers.
To quote my plumber: “With this innovation, software development can now be done by people who can’t touch-type!”.

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I help various scientists learn to use Linux and to program. I really appreciate it when they know how to touch type. I can teach them so much more quickly if they don’t have to think about where the keys are to type the commands or syntax I am teaching them.

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It’s been thirteen years since this controversial article from Jeff Atwood first published, now is his message still relevant? I would love to add in some thoughts on this topic with this read How Much Does Typing Speed Matter for Programmers?. Hope you find it helpful.

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don’t know why your Google was broken: http://web.archive.org/web/20091225051603/http://keyright.com/; http://google.com/images?q=KeyRight.

Also echoed here!

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