Google Docs vs manual typewriter

http://tommorris.org/blog/2009/12/31

by sliceghost • 17 years ago

29 26 17 years ago

coderdude2• 17 years ago

Admittedly I couldn't stand to read the whole article. His obsession with typewriters seems to have influenced his taste in font size and family.

My question to others based on what I read is how many people here, without looking, can type quickly and accurately but choose to not follow the homerow practice? I type very quickly, and hardly ever need to press backspace. I usually only look when I type in 16 character passwords with alternating caps.

Tagith• 17 years ago

I've never been successful with the home row method, I'll admit; it has always caused severe pain in my wrists. That said, I can type at least 90 wpm without looking at the keys, and that suits me just fine.

nzmsv3• 17 years ago

On most keyboards it is very hard to touch-type while programming. Seriously, I just can't enter a curly brace while keeping my hands on the home row. It hurts :) And once you move that hand, repositioning it takes time.

The other reason I never learned to type properly is that I just get bored. I tried several times, and always gave up. It just feels like a waste typing fjfjfjfjfjfj when I could be entering code.

Finally, the productivity of a coder isn't how fast he/she can type. It's how well they think, which is mostly inversely related to WPM.

endtime• 17 years ago

>It's how well they think, which is mostly inversely related to WPM.

That's an...interesting claim. Why do you think typing ability is negatively correlated with intelligence?

ghshephard2• 17 years ago

Just as an aside this { code }, was typed without any conscious thought. As an average touch typist (about 60 WPM), I didn't have any difficulty on my MacBook Pro entering curly paren while keeping my fingers on the home row.

At least once a week I thank my teenage self for taking Grade 7 and 8 typing course (on ancient Manual typewriters - not even electric. The CBM 8032 was _just_ entering our world, and 100 Mile House had never bothered to upgrade to electric typewriters. I expect there is some meta-story regarding how you can teach people to do things without spending a lot of money)

xtho• 17 years ago

It turns out he is a vimmer. I fully support his argument.

BTW there is even a snippet/plugin that turns VIM into a typewriter by disabling any movement keys.

Jach3• 17 years ago

That explains why he said "You keep the fingers of your left hand on the ASDF keys and the fingers of your right hand on the HJKL keys."

I haven't met any touch typists who didn't know the right hand is supposed to rest on the jkl; keys.

imd• 17 years ago

Sounds like a contrived reason not to read an article. View->Page Style->No Style.

To each their own, but I think anyone who makes a living by their hands ought to do the utmost to protect them from harm. Proper typing posture staves off cumulative trauma injuries.

coderdude2• 17 years ago

I also could have held ctrl and used the wheel on my mouse to make the font bigger. That was not the point of my comment.

xiaoma• 17 years ago

I have respect for the pen, due to its portability, convenience for quick notes and use for making sketches, diagrams, and free-form documents. The type writer, on the other hand is idiotic. It's rigid, even worse than computer documents. It's also completely incapable of handling Chinese, which makes up a large part of what I have to write. On top of that, a typewriter weighs more than a backpack with a laptop inside.

What's next, Mass production vs personal forge?

jcapote2• 17 years ago

Sorry, I had to close the page after reading: "I'm not sure that it's possible to know how to code in as many programming languages as I do"

tldr: It's painfully apparent the author is getting too old to Keep Up and is taking that frustration out on newer technology. Retire already. No one uses gopher or typewriters anymore (for serious work), nor will they ever.

sp332• 17 years ago

You should have at least finished the sentence before concluding that it makes no sense. "I'm not sure that it's possible to know how to code in as many programming languages as I do, own an iPod, three laptops, two mobiles and be able to quote verbatim from some W3C/IETF specs and consider oneself a Luddite unless one significantly bends the definition of Luddite."

jcapote2• 17 years ago

Perhaps you're right. I just felt it didn't make any sense. How is owning gadgets and quoting specs some kind of "anti luddite" badge? Seems like he's in some serious denial.

s3graham• 17 years ago

Bah, learn to read or at least to skim with some accuracy.

It's tongue in cheek, and the point of the article (as stated early on) is that when changing tools there are always advantages and disadvantages.

The author then goes on to demonstrate that there are plausible disadvantages even for something as implausible and absurd as using a mechanical typewriter instead of a word processor.

Google Docs vs manual typewriter

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