Agree on all counts about the myths surrounding Dvorak. Another negative aspect that is often overlooked is that the Dvorak keyboard was designed to write English text, not coding, and as a consequence, you will find common coding characters such as numbers, parentheses and other symbols located very awkwardly, which will kill your typing speed.
Having said that, a developer should be more focused on keeping their hands and wrists healthy than typing fast (Dvorak helps on neither counts), so if you're considering making changes in your physical coding environment, your first priority should be to get an ergonomic keyboard and make sure your desk and chair are positioned properly. -- Cédric On Thu, Oct 28, 2010 at 3:23 AM, Reinier Zwitserloot <[email protected]>wrote: > Let's shoot down some urban myths. > > The keyboard is not ineffective. On the contrary, it is amazingly > _EFFECTIVE_. The sheer amount of complicated data manipulation an > expert can apply using just a keyboard is mind-blowing, and other > input methods, even the exotic ones (multitouch, voice, focus > tracking, etc), even assuming those technologies actually work, can't > hold a candle to that old bitty, the keyboard. > > QWERTY _was_ indeed designed to avoid hammer jam, but this has no > scientifically measurable impact on layout efficiency. For example, > the Dvorak layout which was specifically designed for faster typing, > has never been proved faster. I know 3 friends of mine who are avid > Dvorak fans and I out-type them by a significant margin - though of > course anecdotes are no substitute for scientific research. At any > rate, the one serious piece of research done on typing speed, by > Dvorak himself, was cooked, and nobody bothered to retry it. Googling > for the research is surprisingly hard (the dvorak is faster myth is > everywhere, it seems, and all the links I followed on that didn't link > to any research, they just repeated Dvorak's unproven reasons why it > should in theory be better), though here's something: > http://reason.com/archives/1996/06/01/typing-errors > > Also, if you think someone who drops $2000 on a notebook is going to > be satisfied with iOS, you're delusional. If you think Apple is going > to drop their mac platform, which, if they spun it off as separate > company, would be somewhere in the 100-150 range of top 500 companies > all by itself... you're delusional. > > If we're going to scream bloody murder about apple, let's keep the > focus on the sharecropping bullpuckey they are going to extend with > this new appstore. You know the drill: If apple doesn't like your app, > you can't sell it, and you have no recourse of any kind other than to > try and get the tech world riled up. That's a crappy model for > developers. That's worth whining about. > > On Oct 28, 7:28 am, "kevin.hooke" <[email protected]> wrote: > > But Apple already has a big iPhone, it's the iPad. Maybe a big iPod > > Touch would be a more appropriate comparison. > > > > There's only so many snippets of information that Apple has discussed > > so of course we're all drawing conclusions from the little we know, > > presumably because we're all interested to see where this is heading > > because we are either Java developers, Apple users, or both. > > > > As someone in the 'both' category, I won't buy an iPhone because I > > can't develop and run Java apps on it - the clear choice for me for a > > phone platform right now is Android. Of course this isn't a typical > > reason for a 'normal' consumer who would buy a product for other > > reasons (price, features, ease of use) rather than the technology the > > product uses. That said, I love my MacBook Pro. > > > > The news that Apple will not continue to develop Java for the Mac is > > making me consider why I should continue to use a Mac in the future. > > The news that an App Store is coming to the Mac, the fact that it will > > only deliver native OS X apps presumably controlled by Apple in the > > same way as the iPhone App Store, that iOS features to be included in > > Mac OS X Lion and that Apple will not continue development of Java for > > the Mac is just sounding too much to me like 'Apple is going to turn > > the Mac into a big iPhone'. And who can say, maybe this is indeed > > Apple's long term plan. > > > > At the end of the day someone will develop and supply Java for the > > Mac, so in reality maybe we're all worrying about nothing :-) > > > > Here's a random (and possibly crazy) thought. Apple has done a better > > job than most other electronics companies of turning computer > > technology into consumer devices, and they continue to move in this > > direction pushing the iPad as a device for 'everyone' to consume > > media. When you think about it, it's incredibly ineffective that we > > continue to interact with computers via a QWERTY keyboard, which was > > originally designed to place infrequently combined keys adjacent to > > each other so the keys didn't get jammed on your typewriter. The iPad > > really is an amazing step to move away from this 'old' input approach. > > Ok, so it still has an onscreen keyboard, but it does away with a > > physical keyboard and for that matter the mouse too. Who's to say that > > Apple's long term strategy is to move away from general purpose > > computers, and move entirely in the direction of devices to consume > > content like the iPad? If this is true then the statement 'Apple is > > going to turn the Mac into a big iPhone' sums up this direction very > > appropriately :-) > > > > On Oct 22, 11:53 am, CKoerner <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > I bet you main computer isn't even a Mac. I'm not wasting my time > > > discussing such a misguided view as "Apple is going to turn the Mac > > > into a big iphone". Enjoy your mat and your tinfoil had, I have better > > > things to do. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "The Java Posse" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]<javaposse%[email protected]> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en. > > -- Cédric -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Java Posse" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en.
