Beware Of Tendinitis

It was described in HowFastCanYouWriteCode that some master programmers can chunk several hundred thousand lines a day.

I strongly recommend that y'all slow down. A year and some months ago I had a three-day programming blitz that was probably the most productive I have ever been. Unfortunately that was the final straw for my overworked arms and I have had tendinitis in them ever since. As a result, I can no longer type more than a couple of sentences at a time, have to use voice recognition software, and operate mice with my feet. You have been warned.

-- JamesWilson

Good point. I've found that a decent keyboard is crucial. A couple months ago, I spent a few days using a typical keyboard -- I've used the Microsoft variety for years -- and I found the typing position of the regular keyboard excruciating. Interestingly, I also find even regular laptop keyboards somewhat more comfortable than regular desktop keyboards due to the short travel and light touch required. If I could just find a split keyboard with short travel and light touch I'd reach typing Nirvana.

All I can say is, I love my Kinesis. Expensive but fast and very comfortable. If you type for a living, you owe it to yourself to try one of these for a few weeks. You won't regret it. Like JamesWilson, I have also used foot mice, which eliminate the tedious hassle of having to move your hand from the keyboard to the mouse and back again (now where'd that home row go?) Foot mice also make great conversation pieces at the office.

Writing several thousand lines a day is probably a sign a CopyAndPasteProgramming.

I came from the OldSchool of typing. I learned on manual keyboards. I learned telex typing on the old electro-mechanical contraptions where the keys had a long throw. My first electric typewriter was an IbmSelectric?, with a wonderfully crafted type-all-day-long keyboard.

The early video terminals (VDT/VDU units) that I used had keyboards not unlike the Selectric. My first few CP/M computers had full-travel keys laid out in the classic banked manner. It wasn't until the IbmPc? keyboard came out that I started having trouble typing.

I had to discipline myself to assume the proper typing posture that I learned in school, with wrists held level and fingers curved. When I use the OldSchool technique I do fine, and I can type for long periods without fatigue. When I adopt the more modern "wrists-bent-resting-on-something" style, my arms get sore.

I've been typing for a living in one way or another since the 1970s (writing letters, telex typing, computer programming, and so on) and I have only gotten in trouble when I got lazy and put my wrists down.

I use a conventional keyboard. I deliberately seek out keyboards with full-travel keys and noticeable slope (banked keys). I spend more money on them than most people, but after more than 30 years of typing, more than 20 of them on computers, I believe it's safe to say that the OldSchool still works.

-- GarryHamilton

I type on a laptop that ought to be really bad for me then. Completely flat, little key travel, almost no tactile feedback, and wrist-rest with trackpad. Strangely though, it doesn't bug me at all. Perhaps that's because my hands usually "float" when I'm typing, only coming down when I stop to think. I don't rest my wrists on anything, which keeps them straight and lets my fingers drop down a fair bit to the keys. I also don't hold my hands parallel to the desk - they're angled as if I were holding a basketball, which is supposedly much easier on the carpal tunnel. Actually, sometimes my hands aren't floating...they're resting on the outside edge, with the hands angled thumb-to-pinky instead of wrist-to-tip.

I also found typing to be much less fatiguing after switching from Qwerty to DvorakKeyboard. My hands float more and move less, always a good combination. Also tends to make me much more relaxed when typing.

Now, if only I could do something about eyestrain. My eyesight has gotten noticeably worse since I started my current research binge. Comes from reading so many academic papers on computer screen, many of which are badly-scanned versions of typewritten technical reports written in the 1970s. It's gotten bad enough that I look away from the screen whenever I'm typing now, but I can't really avoid reading the papers if I want the knowledge.

-- JonathanTang

I've recently moved to a laptop and really appreciate its benefits. However, it is inconvenient in that I can put the keyboard at the right height xor the screen at the right height; using a second keyboard/monitor plugged into the back obviously mitigates many of the benefits of having a laptop. -- JoeWeaver

Strangely enough, I am most comfortable typing with the keyboard resting on my lap.

CategoryErgonomics