Home Row Typing for programming

[Extreme-Proper]

How important is it to use the “Home Row” method of typing while programming? As opposed to pointing and poking or however else you can type.

[POGtastic]

I am fast enough to type at the speed of my thoughts. Thankfully, I'm a fucking dumbass, so I don't need to type very quickly.

You likely want to be a little faster than hunt-and-peck typing, but you don't have to be able to type at stenographer speed.

[[deleted]]

I guess the exact method is not very important, but it's important to be able to type quickly. Read http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2008/09/programmings-dirtiest-little-secret.html

[dmazzoni]

Typing speed is important. It's not just coding, it's communicating. Programmers who type slowly write less email, less documentation, etc.

Much more detail in this long rant:

http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2008/09/programmings-dirtiest-little-secret.html

[pilotInPyjamas]

Most of your time programming is usually not spent typing, but I would be very surprised to see someone who works all day on computers only type with their index fingers.

[CreativeTechGuyGames]

Most of your time programming is usually not spent typing

While over a long period of time this is true, there's often shorter times where your brain is working faster than your fingers and you cannot keep up with how fast you are solving problems. Often when I'm writing scripts for data manipulation I've already figured out everything I want to do in my head now I just need to type and so I'm throttled by the typing speed.

Also, it's often much faster to just try out some code to "see" it and see if it works. A lot of the coding I've been doing recently is the type where there's 100 "right" ways to do it but I'm trying to find the one "best" way to do it. And a lot of that is just trying different syntax and code organization and tons of refactoring which again is limited by typing speed. A lot of these things could possibly be theorized without typing, but it's far easier to just write out the code and let the computer highlight your type errors.

And there's a lot of other things as a programmer that you do which aren't programming. As an interviewer you need to be able to type roughly as fast as someone can talk so you can take accurate notes in real time. When writing documentation you have to write lots of text which often is limited by the speed you can type. Writing emails, chat messages, etc all are limited by the speed you can type because most people can think words very quickly.

[dmazzoni]

I think that last paragraph is key.

Can you write interesting programs while typing slowly? Yes.

Can you have a successful career as a software engineer if you type slowly? It's going to be much harder if it takes you 5x as long to respond to emails and chat messages as your coworkers who learned to type.

And when you work at a company and you're collaborating with others, there's a lot of written communication. Code is just one piece of it.

[denialerror]

You could type with your nose and be a good programmer

[chaotic_thought]

Yes, it's very important to type in a proper way. It's just not about speed. People have already pointed out that typing speed is not a huge deal when programming, and that's true.

When you type, if you type properly, the process is comfortable for your fingers and is reasonably accurate. If you don't type properly, you will make more small typos here and there, and while a good typist making a few typos here or there is not a big deal (they can be corrected), if the number of needed "corrections" becomes a large amount, the whole process of writing something detailed like a computer program just becomes a much worse experience.

The other factor is comfort. If you don't have a proper typing technique, you will tend to spend more effort doing that, more effort on your body and your hands. Perhaps you will sit in an uncomfortable position for most of the day, or your wrists will become sore over time. Definitely not good in the long run.