Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!thetone!swilson
From: swilson%thetone@Sun.COM (Scott Wilson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: typing
Message-ID: <70047@sun.uucp>
Date: 24 Sep 88 18:01:13 GMT
References: <1018@lakesys.UUCP> <870239@hpcilzb.HP.COM> <28502@think.UUCP>
Sender: news@sun.uucp
Reply-To: swilson@sun.UUCP (Scott Wilson)
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Mountain View
Lines: 34

In article <28502@think.UUCP> barmar@kulla.think.com.UUCP (Barry Margolin) writes:
>In article <870239@hpcilzb.HP.COM> tedj@hpcilzb.HP.COM (Ted Johnson) writes:
>>I agree.  Most (non-secretarial) people who don't deal with computers 
>>regularly aren't touch typists.  So if they have to type a lot (like
>>on an IBM PC) vs. using a mouse, they will probably not be very pleased.
>
>I always find statements like this surprising.  Didn't most people who
>have to use computers on a regular basis go to high school, and
>probably also college?  Didn't they have to turn in term papers and
>reports?  Am I the only one whose high school teachers required the
>papers to be typed?  I would have been lost in high school with my
>jr.high typing class.

I had a typing class in jr. high, then went to high school, then
college, and then two years as a software engineer and I still
couldn't type!  Only recently have I decided to learn touch typing.
I found hunt-'n'-peck to be too slow and error prone, so now I know
where all the keys are (even ^%$#&) and type faster (although still
very error prone).  Maybe I'm just slow, but I found it took several
weeks of conscious effort to relearn typing.

I think somewhere in between mouse/icon interfaces and command line
interfaces there lies a very easy efficient input method.  What I
would really like to see is some way to move a mouse cursor without
having to move your hands from the keyboard.  I suppose a track ball
requires moving your hands less distance from the keyboard than a
mouse, but I think we can do better.  Someday I'll design a keyboard
arrangment with a track ball operated by the thumbs in such a way
that your fingers don't have to leave the keys at all.

--
Scott Wilson		arpa: swilson@sun.com
Sun Microsystems	uucp: ...!sun!swilson
Mt. View, CA