WPM typing?

Ye' old general discussion board. Basically, for everything that isn't covered elsewhere. Come here to shoot the breeze, shoot your mouth off, or whatever suits your fancy.
This forum is not for asking programming related questions.

Moderator: General Moderators

User avatar
pickle
Briney Mod
Posts: 6445
Joined: Mon Jan 19, 2004 6:11 pm
Location: 53.01N x 112.48W
Contact:

Re: WPM typing?

Post by pickle »

The QWERTY keyboard was designed to slow people down. It was invented back in the age of typewriters when secretaries got so fast, they kept jamming the machines. So the keys were re-arranged so that as often as possible, consecutive letters would come from opposite sides of the machine & reduce jamming

I met a fellow that went to DVORAK & said it took him about a month to learn it (because he was proficient in QWERTY & like you said, had lots of muscle memory). He said once he learned it though, it was much better for him - faster typing & less strain.

I was wrong earlier - the DVORAK layout was developed to make the most common letters the easiest to type, and the least common letters the hardest to type, plus some other factors. Wikipedia has a good write-up on it.
Real programmers don't comment their code. If it was hard to write, it should be hard to understand.
User avatar
califdon
Jack of Zircons
Posts: 4484
Joined: Thu Nov 09, 2006 8:30 pm
Location: California, USA

Re: WPM typing?

Post by califdon »

OK, the old-timer just hasta chime in here. :wink: Anyone remember typewriters? You know, the combined keyboard and printer? That's where QWERTY comes from, and like jshpro2 said, it's designed to slow you down so that two typebars wouldn't collide and jam. A good summary of 20th century typing speed records can be found at: http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Typ ... id/2040534
[hey, how's that for a subdirectory name?!]
alex.barylski
DevNet Evangelist
Posts: 6267
Joined: Tue Dec 21, 2004 5:00 pm
Location: Winnipeg

Re: WPM typing?

Post by alex.barylski »

The QWERTY keyboard was designed to slow people down. It was invented back in the age of typewriters when secretaries got so fast, they kept jamming the machines. So the keys were re-arranged so that as often as possible, consecutive letters would come from opposite sides of the machine & reduce jamming
Huh...I did not know that. Interesting. :P
I was wrong earlier - the DVORAK layout was developed to make the most common letters the easiest to type, and the least common letters the hardest to type, plus some other factors. Wikipedia has a good write-up on it.
Nice timing. I'm waiting for a phone call so I have some free time. :)
Anyone remember typewriters
Umm I'm not that young...I used one several times in grade school to type up school work cause I never learned to hold a pen properly and my hand cramps almost immediately. I hated type writers though...always jamming my fingers between keys. :P
User avatar
califdon
Jack of Zircons
Posts: 4484
Joined: Thu Nov 09, 2006 8:30 pm
Location: California, USA

Re: WPM typing?

Post by califdon »

Now, if you want to talk about a real challenge, consider the old-time Morse code operators who could listen to radio or land-line Morse at 35wpm+ and type the messages on a typewriter while smoking a cigarette and drinking coffee! True! I could do it at 25wpm at the peak of my U.S. Navy experience. :D

[P.S. To do the above requires a mental buffer of at least a word or two.]
User avatar
Jonah Bron
DevNet Master
Posts: 2764
Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2007 6:28 pm
Location: Redding, California

Re: WPM typing?

Post by Jonah Bron »

62 WPM on the first test, 58 WPM on the second one. Cool :D

25WPM is fast for Morse code; I didn't know that was possible: that's a lot of tapping.

I did know that the QWERTY format comes from typewriters, but I didn't know that it was designed to slow you down. It makes sense, though. It's funny, though: typing on QWERTY feels so natural. I can't even imagine typing any other way.

The problem with typing speed tests is that you aren't usually dictating while programing, or much anything else for that matter.
Post Reply