As someone who programs for a living, I spent a few months looking for ways to develop rockstar programming skills (like this guy)--something that would give me an edge over the rest of the amazing programmers out there.
Tools such as Vi/Emacs and the nifty shortcuts they offer only carried me so far. Really what I wanted was to be more productive. This translates to more functional code in less time. I wanted to design a program by mid-morning, code the core classes before noon, write wrappers and extensions after lunch, and wrap things up with a bow before the end of the afternoon.
These four principles below are the secret:
- Learn to type more accurately
- Learn to type faster
- Find ways to type less
- Use IDEs whenever possible
Although I hated to admit it at the time, I realized that I needed to work on two core computing skills--typing speed and typing accuracy.
Before I Started:
Before I started, I used this tool (which I have no affiliation with) to profile my typing speed. I clocked in at an embarrassing 40 words per minute with about 70% accuracy. This meant that I not only typed slowly, but was constantly hitting the backspace button to fix my blunders.
The Plan:
I decided to practice my typing for about 15 minutes every day (right before I quit using my computer for the day). My plan was to do this consistently everyday for eight weeks to see if I could feel a difference.
For Those Who Crave Immediate Gratification:
After three weeks, I noticed an increase in my productivity levels on the computer. Not just in terms of coding, but also in the speed of my email responses, the time in which I could put together a powerpoint presentation, and write detailed documentation.
When I checked the metrics on the website again, I clocked in at 80 words per minute with 80% accuracy. This was 2X my stats two weeks go.
To Sum it all up, these four principles below are the secret:
When I checked the metrics on the website again, I clocked in at 80 words per minute with 80% accuracy. This was 2X my stats two weeks go.
To Sum it all up, these four principles below are the secret:
- Learn to type more accurately
- Learn to type faster
- Find ways to type less
- Use IDEs whenever possible
