How to learn speed/touch typing ?

[Rahul Sudip Bose]

Any good resources for this ?

[John Jai]

This site was the one that helped me lot in typing - http://www.alfatyping.com

[Maneesh Godbole]

Don't look at the keyboard while typing, and practice, practice, practice.

[john price]

Don't ever look down at the keyboard. For testing yourself, cover your hands with a towel (in case you accidentally look down). Use a typing program to teach you (individual characters). If you want, you could just typing random things and learn for yourself. The key is practice. Practice makes permanent!
Good luck,
cc11rocks

[Rahul Sudip Bose]

More links please ! Any good (free/paid) software ? Any other resources ?

[Jesper de Jong]

Get yourself a keyboard like this one:

[Randall Twede]

lol jesper!
i learned touch typing in high school over 40 years ago, but typewriters are different from computers. now i touch type with my left hand but hunt and peck with my right. this frees my right hand to hit special chars and to use the mouse.

[Rahul Sudip Bose]

Isnt the speed of typing important to coders (provided they can think fast and can type as fast as they think) ?
How many of you DONT do touch typing ?

[Duran Harris]

No I dont think its THAT important....I personally dont care if it takes someone a full day to type their latest program,if it's a well thought out, useful piece of code....On the other hand though, I'm not the one who is paying the development team.
Do you fuss over the amount of time it takes to think of the design? No..you spend as much time as is necessary to concieve a design you are satisfied with. Wouldn't you agree that it's just something that will improve with time...given that we all spend a fair amount of time typing?

As for the touch typing vote...Id say I touch type about 30% of my keystrokes ...The rest I will be looking at my keyboard to ensure that I'm not inadvertently pressing a wrong key.

[Dim Lazarev]

Check this website out: www.solotyping.com
It features touch-typing courses in different languages.
It takes only 2-3 weeks to master it.

[Dieter Quickfend]

Rahul Sudip Bose wrote:Isnt the speed of typing important to coders (provided they can think fast and can type as fast as they think) ?
How many of you DONT do touch typing ?

I touch type crazy fast, but I don't think it's very important. A good developer doesn't code much, but thinks a lot.

[Ryan McGuire]

Rahul Sudip Bose wrote:Isnt the speed of typing important to coders (provided they can think fast and can type as fast as they think) ?
How many of you DONT do touch typing ?

I certainly don't do what might be called "classic" touch typing, where each finger covers a certain set of keys. In fact, the finger I use for some keys depends on which letter if typed just before that and/or what word I'm typing. e.g. when I type "keys", I hit the 'y' with my right index finger. However, when I type "loyal", I use the left index finger for the 'y'. Another example: We have a "wayfinding" application, when I type that word, I use my left index finger for the 'f', 'd' and 'g' and I don't return my right hand fingers to the home row between the two "in"s. Ooh, I just typed another another good example: "between"
B - right index
E - left middle
T - left index
W - left middle
EE - left index *2
N - right index

And I do that all without looking.

[Ryan McGuire]

Rahul Sudip Bose wrote:Any good resources for this ?

If you don't want to buy a whole new keyboard to have blank keys... http://www.4keyboard.com/blank-keyboard-stickers-p-169.html There are other sticker sets on that site for various purposes.

Also, If you are just now starting out with learning to touch type, we might also discuss the "best" keyboard layout to learn for programming or general usage. Qwerty? Dvorak? Colemak? Something you make up? There are programs that can remap the keys on your existing keyboard to whatever characters you want.

[Michael Matola]

Ryan McGuire wrote:In fact, the finger I use for some keys depends on which letter if typed just before that and/or what word I'm typing.

Do you play a keyboard instrument?

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

I touch type without looking at the keyboard. I knew I touch typed, but I didn't realize that I do so without looking at the keyboard until a teammate came over to ask me a question. I turned my head around to look at her and explained that I just needed a few minutes to finish my thought and I'd get to her shortly. All the while I was typing that thought.

I practiced with typing drills. They introduce you to what finger use each letter and common patterns.

[Anayonkar Shivalkar]

I would agree with Jeanny and Ryan.

I learned typing on typewriter (in my city, computers were not very common in 2003 ). As mentioned in few posts, I always type a specific key with specific finger.

I didn't understand about

Ryan McGuire wrote:In fact, the finger I use for some keys depends on which letter if typed just before that and/or what word I'm typing.

I use above rule only for spacebar key - if I typed last key with left hand, then I use right thumb for spacebar (and vice versa).

Nowadays I guess there are plenty of software/apps to learn typing.