View Poll Results: How fast can you type?

Voters
36. You may not vote on this poll
  • below 15wpm

    1 2.78%
  • 15-35wpm

    2 5.56%
  • 35-55wpm

    12 33.33%
  • above 55wpm!

    21 58.33%

Thread: Speed in Touch Typing

  1. #31
    Devil's Advocate SlyMaelstrom's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ahluka View Post
    ~69wpm with good accuracy if the test I took following the link on this page is to be believed: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001188.html.
    That test was a little tough for me considering it was fairly short. I ended up getting 64WPM with 93% accuracy. The errors I made and didn't pick up seemed to mainly be on spelling differences between UK English and American English. For instance, I typed "colors" instead of the "colours" that read in the passage. Just force of habit, I guess. Like Thantos said, a big part of doing well on these tests is knowing the word set.

    To be honest, I did that test a second time and ended up with an Old English passage that I did horrible on; getting something like 48WPM with 85% accuracy. Every time it said something like "thy," I ended up typing "they" and having to correct it. This makes me commend our forum members who are not native English speakers getting good results on these tests. I'm sure if they never have, they'd find that they get much better results on a test in their native language.

    ... and since other have posted about how they type... I do not type properly. I don't use every finger... I'm not a two finger typist, though... I'd say I'm more of a seven finger typist. My index and middle fingers handle all of the letters and numbers while my pinkies handle the shifts and some punctutaion. My right thumb does most of the space work. My left thumb and two ring fingers do almost nothing... sometimes I'll catch myself actually using them in place of my pink, but not regularly. Basically, I have no consistency. Any given key can be touched by a few different fingers depending on where my hand placement is at the given time.
    Last edited by SlyMaelstrom; 11-22-2008 at 12:52 PM.
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  2. #32
    Cat without Hat CornedBee's Avatar
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    This makes me commend our forum members who are not native English speakers getting good results on these tests.
    On the other hand, we have the advantage of not being too used to a specific form. I've been typing both "color" and "colour" forever.
    All the buzzt!
    CornedBee

    "There is not now, nor has there ever been, nor will there ever be, any programming language in which it is the least bit difficult to write bad code."
    - Flon's Law

  3. #33
    Devil's Advocate SlyMaelstrom's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by CornedBee View Post
    On the other hand, we have the advantage of not being too used to a specific form. I've been typing both "color" and "colour" forever.
    I suppose that's true, but don't you find yourself sometimes typing "Farbe?"

    I agree when you have no habits, it's probably easier... and I would also say that it would be easier for most non-native English speakers to type in English than most English speakers could in a foreign language simply because no matter where you are in the world you're seeing and hearing English a lot at a very young age. I still believe typing in a second language puts you at a decent disadvantage than when typing in your primary language. Since I've made my post I found a test that allowed me to type in another language that I know. I took the test a few times with a few different passages and ultimately I found myself with a 10WPM decrease.
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  4. #34
    Guest Sebastiani's Avatar
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    >> I still believe typing in a second language puts you at a decent disadvantage than when typing in your primary language.

    Yup. Except when it's funny, like when the menu at a Chinese restaurant says "Killing Duck on Spit" or "Puchase with crediT MORE expensive".

    >> I'd say I'm more of a seven finger typist.

    Wow. Like Liberace!
    Code:
    #include <cmath>
    #include <complex>
    bool euler_flip(bool value)
    {
        return std::pow
        (
            std::complex<float>(std::exp(1.0)), 
            std::complex<float>(0, 1) 
            * std::complex<float>(std::atan(1.0)
            *(1 << (value + 2)))
        ).real() < 0;
    }

  5. #35
    Malum in se abachler's Avatar
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    If I am generating original text, I can hit 120 wpm, but I usualyl hve to go back and fix the typos. I never have been good at transcription.

  6. #36
    Cat without Hat CornedBee's Avatar
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    I suppose that's true, but don't you find yourself sometimes typing "Farbe?"
    Not in English. Perhaps if I were typing in French. But when I use English, I'm actually completely switching to the language, including thinking in it.
    All the buzzt!
    CornedBee

    "There is not now, nor has there ever been, nor will there ever be, any programming language in which it is the least bit difficult to write bad code."
    - Flon's Law

  7. #37
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    Your speed was: 95wpm.

    You made 3 mistakes, your mistakes are shown in bold text:

    Let the reader be introduced to Lady Carbuy, upon whose character and doings much will depend of whatever interest these pages may have, as she sits at her writing-table in her own room in her own house in Welbeck Street. Lady Carbuy spent many hours at her desk, and wrote many letters wrote also very much beside letters. She spoke of herself in these days as a woman devoted to Literature, always spelling the word with a big L. Something of the nature of her devotion may be learned by the persual of three letters which on this morning she had written with a quickly running hand.
    From the page linked.

    Touch typing of course .

    *edit*
    Oh and, English is not my native language. My native language is Chinese, though, and typing in Chinese is certainly quite different from typing in English (more different than, say, between English and French or other European languages).

    I think my main barrier is not being able to read ahead too much. Typing alone takes too much CPU time already. It should be a lot faster if I memorized the passage. In a sense I am doing reading-typing-reading-typing alternatively, one word at a time, as opposed to asynchronously .
    Last edited by cyberfish; 11-22-2008 at 04:22 PM.

  8. #38
    Devil's Advocate SlyMaelstrom's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by cyberfish View Post
    It should be a lot faster if I memorized the passage. In a sense I am doing reading-typing-reading-typing alternatively, one word at a time, as opposed to asynchronously .
    It would be, but that's not the point of the test. The idea is to be able to transcribe what you're seeing regardless of whether you've seen it before or not. You can take that same test with the same passage a dozen times and on the last time you'd probably increase your typing speed by 15-20WPM. This is why a really good typist should pretty much be able to type any language, barring any non-English characters, regardless of whether they know the words or not, at very fast speeds. Like most others in this thread have said, already... they, I, and most average typists are much faster typing something original from their head than they are transcribing some text they've never read. It's commonly seen as a good thing, but from a purely typist prospective, the few I've spoken to (secretaries and such whom I've seen type close to 110-120WPM) would tell you that when transcribing you shouldn't even look at the word, but rather just the individual character.
    Sent from my iPadŽ

  9. #39
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    Quote Originally Posted by SlyMaelstrom View Post
    ...
    when transcribing you shouldn't even look at the word, but rather just the individual character.
    Wouldn't reading faster actually help you type faster? Because generally you don't look at individual characters when reading, but rather the whole word.

  10. #40
    Devil's Advocate SlyMaelstrom's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by glo View Post
    Wouldn't reading faster actually help you type faster? Because generally you don't look at individual characters when reading, but rather the whole word.
    It does make you faster, as I said because it allows you to read ahead, but it also makes you susceptible to habit. While it will increase your speed in words your familiar with, if you are typing words that you are unfamiliar with it will decrease accuracy which ultimately decreases speed when your transcription needs to be perfect. This is how I've been told. Like I posted in my example before, if I see the word "thy," my brain automatically thinks "they" and types it. This is a problem and my eventual results showed that. Reading ahead sounds like a great thing, but for transcription it's not. It's the equivalent to a comprehension rating in reading speeds.
    Sent from my iPadŽ

  11. #41
    Unregistered User Yarin's Avatar
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    I've only been able to touch type for a about 3 years now, and I really can't do it that well on a keyboard that I haven't familiarized myself with. My slow development is probably due to the fact that I didn't learn "properly". You know, like from a program that tells you what finger goes where. I just kind of "figured it out".
    I average on 35-55wpm (most correct)... but I'm faster at writing C.
    It is strange though, how you can type any letter and/or word that you want just by thinking it, yet I couldn't tell you the location of every letter on the keyboard.

  12. #42
    Devil's Advocate SlyMaelstrom's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Yarin View Post
    It is strange though, how you can type any letter and/or word that you want just by thinking it, yet I couldn't tell you the location of every letter on the keyboard.
    It's the difference between muscle memory and visual memory. Two completely different parts of the brain. Think about how many times you've written a particular word vs. the number of times you've studied a keyboard's key positions. When your brain thinks of the word you want to type it doesn't visualize the keyboard at all, it simply remembers what your hands are supposed to do when you type the word. Have you ever noticed that when you try to type a word you aren't quite familiar with that you kind stutter thinking about where to press your finger next? Maybe you even look down at the keyboard? Just the way the body and brain works.
    Sent from my iPadŽ

  13. #43
    Malum in se abachler's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Yarin View Post
    My slow development is probably due to the fact that I didn't learn "properly". You know, like from a program that tells you what finger goes where. I just kind of "figured it out".
    This is actually the preferred way according to the fastest typists in the world. Its the method I used and I dont have any probl;em typing at a fast rate. Its mroe about how often you type because you need to type. Typiing just to be typing wont really improve your typing skills that much compared to typing because you need to get a program written or a letter or whatever finished. Dont get too hung up on your typing speed anyway, even though I can hit 120 wpm in short bursts, that just means more time between sessions while I figure out the next line of code. Anything above 30 wpm is perfectly acceptable, unless you are a professional data entry specialist, higher rates wont really improve your productivity. Like most skills, it starts out as a concious effort, and once you get to teh point where you are usign that skill nto to learn that skill, btu rather as a means to accomplish a task, it gradualyl moves to a sub-concious effort. I too have to think about it if I want to tell you where on the keyboard a specific key is, yet I can type all day without lookign at the keyboard, although I do have the bad habit of gazing down while typing even though Im not actually focusing on the keys.
    Last edited by abachler; 11-23-2008 at 07:14 AM.

  14. #44
    Lurking whiteflags's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SlyMaelstrom View Post
    It's the difference between muscle memory and visual memory. Two completely different parts of the brain. Think about how many times you've written a particular word vs. the number of times you've studied a keyboard's key positions. When your brain thinks of the word you want to type it doesn't visualize the keyboard at all, it simply remembers what your hands are supposed to do when you type the word. Have you ever noticed that when you try to type a word you aren't quite familiar with that you kind stutter thinking about where to press your finger next? Maybe you even look down at the keyboard? Just the way the body and brain works.
    That said I find this website helpful in learning key positions and working with practice text to learn to touch type. What holds me back is bad dexterity, honestly.

  15. #45
    and the hat of copycat stevesmithx's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by CornedBee View Post
    I've heard of lots of people who use both and need about two minutes for the switch. Less, if they switch regularly.

    Linux supports dvorak, and I don't see a reason why Mac shouldn't.
    Thanks CornedBee.
    Mac does support dvorak.

    Switching to dvorak ain't easy as now my memory for qwerty layout comes in the way.I guess i should have learned it first.
    Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted
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    No programming language is perfect. There is not even a single best language; there are only languages well suited or perhaps poorly suited for particular purposes.
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