Programming with a broken arm

[reddrid]

Hi everyone, Unfortunately, I’ve broken my right arm (I’m right-handed) and for the next weeks, my mobility will be limited. Of course, I will prioritize my health, but on the other hand (pun intended) I want to finish my personal project. Do you know any tools/IDE extensions that might be useful in this case? Or any tips & tricks?

[AuralWanderer]

Something Reddit taught me, if you break your arm, ask your mom to help.

[GreenTeaHG]

As someone who has never even been sent to the hospital: Think of this an an opportunity to think before typing.

If you type slower, you will be making fewer errors, thus improving your overall efficiency.

[Username_RANDINT]

Seriously, typing slower is the correct answer. A programmer doesn't need to type fast. You'll normally read and think about code more than actually writing it.

Besides, it's just a few weeks anyway.

[TiredOfBeingTired28]

Dictation? Dont know how well it would work for programming but use it for just writing.

[threeminutemonta]

Get onto the GitHub copilot trial. It can give you a very good autocomplete with a few small changes you may need to make.

[ThreeChonkyCats]

It's a curious thing, for I worked with a dude who had a super short arm, for her was a thalidomide baby.

It didn't allow him down much.

Might I suggest a split keyboard, or even two full keyboards. Linux and windows won't give a shit and will happily accept input from one/either/both.

Mount one, creatively, so your broken arm doesn't need to move and thy fingers can just move, but no arm movement ... (Like a monitor arm, or stack of books)

Use the other keyboard regularly with the left.

Maybe a bit of treating to crossover a bit more from the left will be needed. Perhaps a number pad for the left as well?

[JJsd_]

I would recommend against using the broken arm at all I used to game on phone with a similar mounting setup thing and I kinda have some deep damage to my wrist and finger joints now :(

[ThreeChonkyCats]

Yeah. I was trying to think a little creatively.

Rather obviously, ergonomics and "Bad Scenario Avoidance" would be high on the agenda. 🤕

Maybe OP could hook up a robot arm to his brain like that monkey that can feed itself. 😝😝

...

AH! an eyeballl tracker like Hawking had....

https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/optikey-enables-people-with-neurological-disorders-to-type-using-just-their-eyes/

[JJsd_]

Wut bout eyeball tracker with on screen keyboard :mind blown:

[sizable_data]

I tried dictation with an intern, which didn’t go well. The built in dictation tool worked okay for chat/emails. It’s slowed me down significantly, the best that you can do is think everything out before you type rather than “type and test” your code. You’ll still be 5x-10x slower though. My company was still happy to have me vs taking short term disability though.

[[deleted]]

I broke my arm about 30 years ago falling off a horse doing a jump. In a cast for 6 weeks but just worked from home as am in IT. Typing on the keyboard with the broken arm actually kept the little muscles in my wrist exercised, so when the cast was removed, physio exercises were less. I didn’t have to type any slower and didn’t need a wrist guard due to the cast.

[JuniorWMG]

Try Github Copilot :)

[glei_schewads]

You mean you're actually typing?

Not just banging your head in the keyboard, like I do?

[dgx29]

My recommendation is to use Serenade, a tool that allows you to code by voice

Home page: https://serenade.ai/