Hacker News Reader

Comment by HideousKojima | Hacker News Reader

StarCraft taught me how to type, gotta type fast if you're going to trash-talk on Battle.Net

Copying my mate’s work (hi, mjoc101) at uni taught me to type. Too many headaches looking at his printout, my screen, my keyboard, forced me to use whatever tool was available on the uni *nix systems.

One of the best things I ever did for myself. If you’re reading this and you don’t touch-type, learn. Now.

(They kicked me out eventually, so nothing good came of the copying.)

I was required to learn touch-typing to graduate high school. Early 1990s. My incentive was simple; the class was an hour a day of soul-sucking drudgery, for a full academic year, but if I could just eke out 35 wpm on a test, I could avoid the class entirely. I learned typing the spring before my senior year. And passed. Got to leave school an hour earlier every day. I filled the time by taking another math class.

I learned on MUDs. It wasn't just trash talking that required quick typing.

Are you sure it wasn't all about the APM and macros? :)

I remember briefly learning to type from a Mavis Beacon book but practicing on those clicker mechanical keyboards drove my parents nuts!

ICQ and MSN messenger did it for me.

Definitely messenger apps that did it for me. Back in the AOL online CD days!

No one I knew could type, so I had to learn myself. By the time it was taught in HS, my habits and muscle memory weren't having it. I could type 'properly' but far slower, so I gave up.

To this day I've never had a RSI from typing (and some of the marathons were crazy!), and it's rampant among 'proper' typers.

Gotta get that zinger joke in before someone else does!

It could be a geographical thing but my experience of ICQ and MSN was almost entirely 1:1 chat. It was a calmer way to be - no onlookers to impress, and first-class support for signalling that you’re not at your computer right now so maybe they should message later.

This is my experience too. The standout memory for me is staying up till the wee hours of the morning chatting with the girl I'd end up dating for the last couple years of highschool.

It's good for training the 'k' and 'e' keys, at least.

MAngband and ADOM taught me touch typing (and the README taught me the most useful exercise for treating carpal tunnel).

Reply on news.ycombinator.com