Do you guys place importance and emphasis on the proper way of typing as a developer, or do you just go along with whatever style as long as you can touch type.
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Personally, I think what’s more important is being able to type without looking at the keyboard and just do it automatically… so your brain cells don’t have to work looking and finding letters on your keyboard.
Whether it’s “proper” or not, it’s debatable. We’re not typing long paragraphs here… just short snippets of code, a few lines at a time. We spend more time thinking of the solution, staring at the screen, rather than typing.
On my LEFT hand, I use all 4 fingers + thumb.
On my RIGHT hand, I mostly use the pointer and middle finger… (with middle finger doing most of the pecking… ) My right pinky is just for the ENTER key and shift key.
If my right-hand stays on the arrow keys, my left hand will sometimes encroach on the right side of the keyboard to continue typing.
That said, I did 73wpm (330cpm) at 100% accuracy on this site:
But when coding, I’m not typing at that speed. It’s quick bursts, and long pauses in between.
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Since I spend most of my waking hours at a keyboard, I get a little nerdy about it and own several expensive fully programmable mechanical keyboards in a number of configurations.
This is my work keyboard. (I love it so much)
I do pay attention to ergonomics. The reason I use a split keyboard is so that I can keep my arms parallel and put less stress on my already damaged shoulders. I try to make sure my keyboard is at the appropriate height, that my feet are flat on the floor (or footrest because I’m little), and that my wrists are elevated. I’ve known enough programmers with repeat stress injuries to be vigilant while I can still prevent them.
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Looks super cool!
Anybody tried one of those Microsoft Sculpt keyboards? They sure look interesting
https://www.microsoft.com/accessories/en-us/products/keyboards/sculpt-ergonomic-desktop/l5v-00001
My coworker uses that keyboard. I wince when I hear him typing because it’s a chiclet keyboard and he strikes it pretty hard (repeat stress). He seems to like it though. I know that when his old one died he replaced it with the same model.
ETA: I also know some people who like the logitech wave keyboards, and my former coworker who had bad carpal tunnel issues swore by the Kinesis Advantage.
Oh my, that Kinesis one is some next level stuff! I may want to look into some of these options even if I have no wrist pain just yet. Better adjust early instead of go through pain later I think 
If you really want to go down a rabbit hole, join us at r/mechanicalkeyboards.
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Love my mechanical keyboard with rgb lighting (but mine is set permanently to white).
I’m not slamming my delicate fingers to membrane keyboards where there is no/little feedback, so your fingers are just slamming down on a hard surface.
With mech keyboards, once you feel the click, you don’t have to continue pressing down.
I used to have finger pain but not anymore.
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My biggest thing is the programability. I would end up with sore hands from having to overextend my pinkies. Being able to move around my commonly used keys and to layer functionality on the home row is 
.
I have some really incorrect habits as far as typing, and I can still touch-type 75 - 90 wpm.
When coding, I can’t think as fast as I can type anyway.
My biggest problem is that I use only the left Shift key, even for letters on the left side of the keyboard. I’ve tried to unlearn this but my typing slowed to ~15 wpm.
Hey Ariel, can you pls tell me what is the brand and model? I’m curious because this is not available where I live (India). I bought on Amazon kinesis freestyle keyboard - also split like this one after doing a research and reading many positive reviews. I had various problems and, as a result, I looked as ergonomics.
The one in the picture is an Ergodox EZ. You can get kits to build your own ErgoDox as well. I also have a Diverge3 which has a layout I like better but it doesn’t have QMK firmware, so I’m less impressed with my customization options.
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Before I started learning, I thought myself how to type properly. One of the reasons for this is not just speed but more so being able to type without looking at the keyboard. Especially when I’m learning it’s easier to work and code without having to pause lessons or take away my eyes off the screen.
I used typingtutor.com to learn how to type properly.
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Interesting topic! … Coincidence… I’ve just researched about this topic, a few weeks ago, and decided to correct my wrong but fast typing , to relearn a proper typing method.
After all I’ve read , the conclusion is that a methodoly exists for something… And to relearn typing the best way , will only help you be better at writing code, documentation, team communication, etc, it will help you have less typos, and be more comfortable with the keyboard without the need to look at it while typing. And you’ll get fast again sooner than you imagine.
I’ve even found a good website to exercise typing the right way, but focused on coding. Totally free. Give yourself 20 minutes a day there, it’ll be a hassle at the beginning, but after one or two weeks you’ll be amazed with your migration.
This is the link:
http://www.speedcoder.net/
Enjoy! And happy coding!
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I’ve used this one for learning general typing, but there’s also symbols: https://www.typingclub.com/
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Hey, everybody thanks a lot for your inputs. I became interested in this topic not only because of speed and accuracy but also because of health. I read somewhere that improper typing method can lead to wrist strain and other problems, so I was curious if you guys were using proper techniques to prevent this. 
I’m a touch typer from way back (took typing class in high school… on a type writer). I could get up to 70-80 wpm back then when there wasn’t a mouse involved, but now a days its more in the 50-60 range. Oddly enough my 2017 MBP with it’s “better design” keyboard I can’t really get out of the 40s with 95ish% accuracy. My Thinkpad T460 keyboard I was hitting the mid 50s - 60s with 100% accuracy. I knew I wasn’t as fast on the MBP, but I didn’t think it was that bad. I’ve never really had an issue with RSI or CT, but I lift heavy weights 3 times a week and I truly believe that has kept me from any wrist injuries.
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