Intro

Today I wanted to talk about touch typing and how important it is today, not only for programming but for everyday life in this digital age. Right now we live in a world dominated by devices, many of them mobile (such as smart phones and tablets). Although plenty of us like to think we can get away with only using our smart phones, a lot of work still requires using either a laptop or a desktop computer. Thus no matter how fast we can swipe on a mobile device, knowledge of fast and proficient typing is still a fundamental skill.

Touch typing is the skill of typing on a keyboard without constantly looking at the keys to figure out what characters to type next, and instead relying on muscle memory to guide you. With a few simple guides such as aligning your fingers to the homerow keys and delegating certain letters to certain fingers, you speed up your ability to type words drastically and comfortably. Not to mention, touch typing is incredibly satisfying once you're able to do so without any thought.

The inverse to touch typing, which we should all be familiar with but try our best to avoid, is what I call "chopstick-typing." This is where you keep your eyes glued to the keyboard searching for your next character and pressing the key with your index fingers. This is incredibly jarring and at length is very exhausting, since you have to constantly switch your focus from the keyboard to the screen and back again. I actually had a roommate in college who didn't know how to touch type, and was a programmer. This blew my mind, because even if he wasn't a programmer, having to chopstick-type essays for class should have taken forever.

Touch typing as we know it today evolved from necessity with the original typewriters, for which it is often quoted that they were designed so that users would actually type slower so as to not overwhelm the machine. It turns out this isn't actually true. According to a study by the University of Kyoto, the original layout was actually based on the English alphabet (a, b, c, d, etc...) but after taking suggestions from telegraphists (among the first users of typewriters), changes were made which would develop the typewriter layout to the one we know today, the QWERTY layout[1]. Fascinating history.

In any case, it turns out there are varying opinions on what is the most efficient keyboard layout, with other layouts such as DVORAK, and COLMAK. Personally I learned to type with QWERTY and can't be bothered to learn a new layout; it's hard enough trying out different language layouts and being assailed with minor differences like where the control/alt/command keys are, and more importantly for me, where the various brackets are located. Having lived in Japan and used a keyboard with Japanese-QWERTY layout but needing to type in US English, it was painful to type special characters before I committed those to memory.

Teaching Typing in Japan

I first realized the value of touch typing while working at an international school in Japan. At the time, our team had decided to launch a typing program for our students. We knew it would help them in the long run, even if they rolled their eyes at the idea. We used a paid web app called Typesy, which was popular in education. It came with multiple typing curriculums, games, and even the option to add our own practice passages. One of my colleagues decided to load it with IELTS reading material, hoping to give the students a double benefit: better typing skills and improved English comprehension.

As for me, I had been typing for years and considered myself pretty fast, but I still had quirks in my technique. I tend to say the words in my head as I type, which I think comes from being a native English speaker. Even back then, I wondered if Typesy was the best solution. I prefer free and open-source tools, but since the school paid for the subscription, we made the most of it. Our target for the students was 65 words per minute with 85 percent accuracy. It was a realistic goal for most of them, though it required steady practice.

Looking back, I realize that for much of my life I did not know how to touch type the number row. Through high school and even most of college, I would glance down whenever I needed to type numbers. It was only in recent years that I taught myself to type them without looking. That change alone made me more efficient, especially as a programmer who spends a lot of time working with different characters and symbols.

Relearning the Right Way

When I became a software engineer, I assumed my typing skills were solid. I typed code, wrote documentation, and took plenty of notes every day. But over time, I noticed something. My fingers were quick, but my form had drifted away from the “correct” way of typing. For example, I often hit backspace with my ring finger instead of my pinky. These were small habits, but they added up. I decided it was time to retrain myself.

Without access to Typesy anymore, I started looking for other tools. That search led me to two resources that completely reshaped my typing: gtypist and monkeytype.com.

gtypist is a free program you can run in the command line on a Debian-based Linux system. It teaches touch typing from the ground up, including special characters and the number row. Thanks to gtypist, I finally learned how to type numbers entirely by touch. Now I can type something like “468” without glancing down, although I admit I am still not as fast with numbers as I am with letters.

Monkeytype is a free web app that turns typing practice into something enjoyable. You can choose from different modes, whether you want timed rounds, a set number of words, or even passages from books and poems. If you make an account, you can track your stats over time and even see where you stand on a global leaderboard. I am not competitive by nature, but watching my progress chart slowly rise has been rewarding.

Results and Goals

Since I began practicing daily, my average speed has climbed to 80 words per minute. The difference shows up everywhere. I code faster, I write notes more fluidly, and blog posts like this one seem to appear on the screen almost as quickly as I think them. My goal now is to reach a consistent 100 words per minute before the end of the year. I know I may never type at my test speeds in real-world scenarios, but the improvements in comfort and efficiency have been worth it. Sometimes, I even catch my fingers racing ahead of my thoughts, which is a good problem to have.

Whether you're experienced with the keyboard or not, I highly recommend these resources for improving your touch typing skills. In this day and age, you're wasting time if you're using a computer and have to chopstick-type (typing each character with your index fingers).

Bibliography

1. Yasuoka, Koichi; Yasuoka, Motoko. On the Prehistory of QWERTY. ZINBUN. 2011, 42: 161-174

Resources

Gtypist

monkeytype.com