learning to type - tips for programmers?
- by OrbMan
After hunting and pecking for about 35 years, I have decided to learn to type. I am learning QWERTY and have learned about 2/3 of the letters so far. While learning, I have noticed how asymmeterical the keyboard is, which really bothers me. (I will probably switch to a symmetrical keyboard eventually, but for now am trying to do everything as standard and "correct" as possible.)
Although I am not there yet in my lessons, it seems that many of the keys I am going to use as a C# web developer are supposed to be typed by the pinky of my right hand. Are there any typing patterns you have developed that are more ergonomic (or faster) when typing large volumes of code rife with braces, colons, semi-colons and quotes? Or, should I just accept the fact that every other key is going to be hit with my right pinky?
It is not that speed is such a huge concern, as much as that it seems so inefficient to rely on one finger so much...
As an example, some of the conventions I use as a hunt and pecker, like typing open and close braces right away with my index and middle finger, and then hitting the left arrow key to fill in the inner content, don't seem to work as well with just a pinky.
What are some typing patterns using a standard QWERTY keyboard that work really well for you as a programmer?