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One handed coding -- tablet, special keyboard, one-handed typing?

Asked 2009-12-03T02:56:29.960
27

I recently broke my finger and can now only type with my right hand. This has seriously impacted my typing speed. Since I write software for a living, this is a serious problem.

I have been doing some research, but haven't found a great solution yet. Here's what I've come up with:

  1. Wacom tablet + hand writing recognition software. Is it possible to write code with hand writing recognition software?

  2. one handed keyboards -- I have only found expensive (> $100) keyboards. These look like they have a steep learning curve.

  3. one handed typing instructions: http://www.aboutonehandtyping.com/manualcompare.html. Does this really work?

What do the one handed coders out there use?

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3 Answers

16

If you're a two-hand touch typist, the answer is a "mirrored" layout.

Mirroring lets you begin touch-typing with one hand almost immediately. Pretty crazy how easy it is. Based on the muscle memory you already have.

If you're typing with your right hand:

  • Type all right-hand keys normally.
  • Don't type left hand keys. Instead type the same motion (but mirrored) with your right hand.

So if you want to type:

  • "D" -> type "K" instead.
  • "W" -> type "O" instead.
  • "S" -> type "L" instead.

Same row of keyboard, same finger, same motion. Your muscle memory can already do this... kind of like how you're unable to pat your head and rub your belly at the same time. The wires in your brain are crossing somewhere.

Software to mirror the keyboard as described above:

Hold Spacebar to mirror:

Predictive Text; Automatic Mirroring

answered 2012-03-20T20:13:38.950
0

We have a developer in the office that lost mobility in his right hand and probably won't gain back full use of it. He has mainly learned to type well with his left hand and kind of fill in for his right hand. Although he lets his right hand kind of peck for things. He has gained enough speed back for it not to affect his day too greatly from what i can tell.

Only thing i can think of that might let you speed up some while typing with one hand and maybe being able to get a key or two with the other hand might be to use an IDE instead of text editor if you already don't, so you can use tab completion. Kind of a lame solution if you don't like IDEs or just don't have that option in your work environment but might help out a bit.

answered 2009-12-03T03:30:13.477
0

The same thing happened to me (I destroyed my left pinky). At the time, I didn't touch type, so my only use for my pinky was left-control, left-shift, and caps-lock.

This sounds as if it just happened to you. I promise you'll quickly learn to compensate. Remember, it's quality, not speed, that counts most.

Perhaps you should seize the opportunity and read to improve yourself as a programmer. Or spend some time debugging.

answered 2009-12-03T03:36:53.063

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