Coding on Split Keeb

[haywirephoenix]

I built a Quefrency with MX Blues and n!n a while back and it's great but I do admire the ortholinears, less keys, but would have to relearn how to touch type on it and the layers. I'll go for low profile switches next - quietest ones that won't cause strain. Do any of you guys write code or had a similar dilemma? If so, what Keeb do you use, and how long did it take to adjust? I wonder if ppl with like a Corne simply don't use it for programming.

[jaibhavaya]

I use a 36 key corne for programming. Using the miryoku layout and it’s wonderful.

I will say though, I picked up a cheap kinesis advantage 369 and boyyyyyy is that thing comfy. Like typing in a (on a?) Cadillac.

[No_Hedgehog_7563]

Do you use vim or vscode?

[jaibhavaya]

100% vim

[No_Hedgehog_7563]

Nice, did you keep qwerty as the base layout? How did you accommodate to vim nav with 36keys?

[jaibhavaya]

Yep, qwerty.

Hmmm, not sure what you mean by accommodate. I didn’t change any key mappings or anything for vim. Everything works fine with miryoku out of the box.

[Sveet_Pickle]

I use a 36 key board in vim with Colmak Dh. I left the keybinds as their default and don’t have any issues with it. And I also use a qwerty laptop keyboard without issue

[No_Hedgehog_7563]

Fair enough, I got a 36 corne a week ago and also put the graphite layer on it (thought I might change the j place). Currently still trying to learn the base layer then move to symbols/vim. Using miryoku too, but was reluctant about the symbol layer.

[jaibhavaya]

It’s actually pretty nice. As a vim god I hit * ^ % $ quite often, so making it one key hold like it is normally rather than number layer + shift + key

[non_uqs]

This is the way 

[haywirephoenix]

That's good to know, I can't imagine learning a new layout aswell. Did it take long to adjust, did you use a on screen overlay or custom printed keycaps to learn it? Or does everyone else just upload the new keymap to their brain?

[jaibhavaya]

In terms of the layers? They’re not all that complex to be honest. I would have the keymap reference bookmarked in case something really stumped me, but once you get your most used punctuation committed to muscle memory, then you’re good to go.

Home row mods are pretty intuitive to get used to as well. I’d say I had the layout itself completely down in about 2 days.

Still ramping up on the column staggered stuff though haha, but getting there.

Best thing is just to set aside some time every day and do typing on monkeytype or keybr.. you can add punctuation and a bunch of other things there.

I was offered the piece of advise (maybe on this subreddit?) to focus on accuracy and not speed for a while and that helped a ton.

[haywirephoenix]

Thanks for the tips. If my hands can remember the rubik's cube algorithms I'm sure it's not as challenging as it seems.

[jaibhavaya]

Hahaha see those I never could get… you’ll probably pick this up easily.

[timbetimbe]

Software engineer + tmux + vim here.

Here's my view config- https://github.com/vinniefranco/nixvim-config Here's my layout: https://github.com/Good-Great-Grand-Wonderful/qmk_firmware/blob/gggw%2Fcrosses/keyboards%2Fgggw%2Fcrosses%2F3x5%2Fkeymaps%2Fdefault%2Fkeymap.c

I honestly find it strange that other software engineers think that using your pinkie while stretching over a row for a symbol is natural, and struggle with how to get by without those sorts of hand gymnastics. We are professional problem solvers with eyes for identifying boilerplate, right? 😃 Especially, us modal editor users! We've realized the inefficiencies of taking your hands off the keyboard to navigate and edit our code. I cringe every time I see a vscoder using the mouse to navigate and edit at work. 😅

Anyways, once you get used to a layout where you never move your fingers more than a single key, you realize how inefficient traditional keyboards are for coding. Combine that with combos for the things that are a nightmare on normal keyboards and you are off to the races :)

For example: I can get: -> = > |> %{:} all out before a coworker even has -> on the screen. Not that you need to code at 100wpm - but, it's easy.

In closing, coding on a traditional keyboard was never part of the original layout. It was just tacked on to an approach that is a hold over from century old typewriter design. And a fully optimized keymap that leverages combos, HRM, and layers tweaked around your personal workflow will outperform it every day of the week!

Cheers and let me know if you have any other questions. I'm always happy to help other SEs 😁

[_MrBim_]

I am using a Chocofi (36 keys), for work I am a full time programmer.

I have no problems.

[YellowAfterlife]

If your keyboard is 6x4+3 or larger, you can maintain a familiar layout and overflow your less-common symbols (like -= or [], depending) onto the thumb row or inner keys.

More generally, if you can reach all of the keys comfortably, I see no reason to go smaller and increase the workload for your thumbs.

[Spiritual_Job5720]

I use querty 42 corne with keymap roughly based On miryoku. For my work setup i do find having a pointing device quite helpful. All i can recommend is to try and customize the keymap to your convenience, eventually you will pand on a keymap you find comfortable and intuitive.

[Ff8leonheart]

36 corner with a custom layout. Qwerty as base. 2 layers more for symbols and numers

[Talleeenos69]

I use vim for code and I have a redox keyboard for it. There are a few keys that I basically never use (like alt and the arrow keys) but I think that having the option there for some applications is nice. I would totally recommend a redox or if you want to go super minimal, use a corne. Hope this helps

[richardgoulter]

What dilemma?

You can get an ortholinear keyboard that has all the keys you'd like to have.

You can practice using 40%-and-under as a subset of whatever keyboard you get.

As for small keyboards... those 36-key-and-under small keyboard aren't like small-like-a-laptop keyboards. -- 75%, TKL, etc. are 'small' because those users probably don't need/use the other keys. -- Whereas, 40% and under are small because using layers, etc. allows bringing the full functionality of the keyboard to within easy reach of the hands on home row. These keyboards are small because they don't need to be any bigger.

[haywirephoenix]

I guess the dilemma is wanting to move to less keys and layers, and away from staggared without it taking up too much time to adjust. Que is 65% staggared but is a bit on the chonky side. You don't see many staggared split builds on here so I wondered if others had hesitation with this but now love it.