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Can you touch type? And when did you learn?

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  • Can you touch type? And when did you learn?

    I can touch type (loosely defined as being able to type as quickly or faster than I can handwrite, and not need to look at the screen or the keyboard while I do it).

    I was interested in computers as a kid and my dad taught me how to type with all my fingers instead of pecking at the keyboard. But I generally still needed to look at the keyboard. It wasn't until I was about 13 or so that I made a conscious effort to memorize the positions of keys so I wouldn't need to look at them in order to type.

    Right now I generally type at about 80 words per minute. The only thing that I'm not used to is typing quietly. I grew up with the Apple IIc computer and IBMs, and those were sturdy computers that you could clack clack clack on the keyboard with. My laptop's keys are pretty delicate and I keep typing too hard on the keyboard because I'm still used to the old school heavy keys.

    My dad can touch type, but my mother has never learned. She'll type using more than just two fingers, but she's very slow.

    Needless to say, my kid brother mastered touch typing pretty early on. They say one of the first toys they gave him was a computer mouse.


    What about you? Are you a Polytubby who pecks gently at the keyboard? Or are you fluent with your fingers? And how did you learn?
    "lol internet" ~ AAHZ

  • #2
    Teh overall lack of innuendo in teh above post is unsettling.
    THEY!!111 OMG WTF LOL LET DA NOMADS AND TEH S3D3NTARY PEOPLA BOTH MAEK BITER AXP3REINCES
    AND TEH GRAAT SINS OF THERE [DOCTRINAL] INOVATIONS BQU3ATH3D SMAL
    AND!!1!11!!! LOL JUST IN CAES A DISPUTANT CALS U 2 DISPUT3 ABOUT THEYRE CLAMES
    DO NOT THAN DISPUT3 ON THEM 3XCAPT BY WAY OF AN 3XTARNAL DISPUTA!!!!11!! WTF

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    • #3
      Yes.

      I took a class in 6th grade (10yro) but didn't really learn properly there (probably comparable to your example, not pecking but not memorized either); it wasn't until 10th grade (14yro) where I actually used the skill for the first time; I had a paper due at 5th period (hour after lunch) and hadn't started writing it yet. (It was on A Farewell To Arms if you're curious.) I wrote it (3 pages) during that hour, touch typing at a pace I had never known I could type

      I type ~60wpm (off a test), or probably ~45wpm in practical terms (while posting on Apolyton etc.) I actually use the Dvorak layout, which allows me to type a bit faster. I type ~5wpm slower on a QWERTY keyboard (even though I only started on Dvorak a few years ago).
      <Reverend> IRC is just multiplayer notepad.
      I like your SNOOPY POSTER! - While you Wait quote.

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      • #4
        I took a class in 10th grade that was otherwise useless, but among other things taught me to touch type.
        "The purpose of studying economics is not to acquire a set of ready-made answers to economic questions, but to learn how to avoid being deceived by economists."
        -Joan Robinson

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        • #5
          of course. I actually don't look at the keyboard at all. Just the screen. Anyways, I kind of never learned the 10 finger system, it blew monkey balls anyway. I just started typing, that's it. It kind of evolved all by itself.
          In da butt.
          "Do not worry if others do not understand you. Instead worry if you do not understand others." - Confucius
          THE UNDEFEATED SUPERCITIZEN w:4 t:2 l:1 (DON'T ASK!)
          "God is dead" - Nietzsche. "Nietzsche is dead" - God.

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          • #6
            Originally posted by LordShiva
            Teh overall lack of innuendo in teh above post is unsettling.
            QFT.

            Comment


            • #7
              Yep. Took a class in 8th (or was it 9th?) grade. No idea what my actual WPM would be, but it's fast enough for my purposes.
              "The French caused the war [Persian Gulf war, 1991]" - Ned
              "you people who bash Bush have no appreciation for one of the great presidents in our history." - Ned
              "I wish I had gay sex in the boy scouts" - Dissident

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              • #8
                I would be surprised at anyone here who couldn't touch-type, barring some sort of disability.

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                • #9
                  Sorta... I glance at the keyboard from time to time. Most often when I'm positioning my hands for the first time and using numbers or symbols.

                  Plus I have gorgeous hands.

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                  • #10
                    Of course. I took typing classes in school, plus I had Mario Teaches Typing at home.







                    Plus, I played text-based games for like 5 years. You need to type fast and accurately to do it.

                    One of them was a space combat game, 3 dimensional space all done via the command line. It also helped my spatial visualization skills.

                    sh 180+10
                    sp 100
                    fire
                    etc

                    "The issue is there are still many people out there that use religion as a crutch for bigotry and hate. Like Ben."
                    Ben Kenobi: "That means I'm doing something right. "

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Kuciwalker
                      I would be surprised at anyone here who couldn't touch-type, barring some sort of disability.
                      It's an age/generation thing. Lots of people 40+ can't touchtype, even those who work in a business where they type frequently; it wasn't taught (particularly to men) pre-1980s in school, because only secretaries (generally female) typed pre-computer. Once you hit a certain age, it is increasingly more difficult to learn new things.

                      That said, i'd be surprised if very many people on these boards can't touchtype, due to our demographic
                      <Reverend> IRC is just multiplayer notepad.
                      I like your SNOOPY POSTER! - While you Wait quote.

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                      • #12
                        at elementary schools that my friends and i attended, a typing class was required in 6th or 7th grade. one girl could type 112 wpm and she sat RIGHT next to me. i was about 70 then. our teacher didn't really trust us, so we had to have a cleaner cloth placed over our hands for tests. the kid on the other side of me cheated and farted so much and got about 6 wpm.
                        i got an F on a test because i didn't like using the right shift key. i never use it now.

                        my father is a pecker but my mother types really fast.

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                        • #13
                          5th Grade.
                          "The DPRK is still in a state of war with the U.S. It's called a black out." - Che explaining why orbital nightime pictures of NK show few lights. Seriously.

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                          • #14
                            my father is a pecker

                            is or has?
                            "The issue is there are still many people out there that use religion as a crutch for bigotry and hate. Like Ben."
                            Ben Kenobi: "That means I'm doing something right. "

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by LordShiva
                              Teh overall lack of innuendo in teh above post is unsettling.
                              QFT



                              Originally posted by Alinestra Covelia

                              What about you? Are you a Polytubby who pecks gently at the keyboard? Or are you fluent with your fingers? And how did you learn?
                              This might be something, but I doubt it.
                              Modern man calls walking more quickly in the same direction down the same road “change.”
                              The world, in the last three hundred years, has not changed except in that sense.
                              The simple suggestion of a true change scandalizes and terrifies modern man. -Nicolás Gómez Dávila

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