That seems like the kind of program for which it is much better to be delivered through a website with some Javascript on it. No need to get the whole classroom to download anything and stuff.
The earliest version of this program on the GNU FTP is v 2.5 from 2003, so it definitely predates the trend of all web apps... it may even predate the web going back to 1.0.
This page actually links to jsTypingTutor if you want that:)
On the other hand, while I can see the benefits in a well-connected classroom, GNU Typist works on decade-old hardware, without X (or Wayland, or whatever), with no internet connection, anywhere on Earth, on a tiny CPU/RAM/battery budget. I like it more as a clean, minimal, local program, personally.
I really dread the future of computing where every application is a website, and the supercomputer sitting under my desk becomes useless whenever the internet goes down.
This is an enormous retrograde step. There's no reason for everything to be running on someone elses computer. Gigaflops are so cheap that I have more of them in my pocket than could be found in the worlds fastest supercomputers only a few years ago.
Your future is just the regular bleak one, my dark future is the one where there is no supercomputer under the desk but instead a glorified web terminal that is meant to run the web apps for the next 2-3 years until support ends (regardless of computing power) and the terminal doesn't get any more updates so it cannot run most of the newer stuff (think iPad/Chromebook, except larger). Obviously nothing works without active internet connection and local storage is only used for caching - all your data, programs and (of course) licenses for said programs and media are saved on the cloud.
Everyone can make their own software as long as it exists on said cloud (ie. a computer owned and controlled by someone else), they are able to access any of "their" files from anywhere - be it their home, work, their friend/parent's places, the terminals at the cafe, their mobiles or whatever and work from anywhere they'd want. Parents love that the terminals of their kids filter out anything that could be considered inappropriate and the more knowledgeable of them customize these filters for their and their friends' kids.
Some may have at the back of their mind that some of that could be abused and have a vague idea of how that could be done, but as it doesn't affect their day-by-day lives they do not pay much attention to it.
Big computers still exist but they are prohibitively expensive for personal use by the vast majority of people.
While I don't necessarily disagree with your point, in the future my crystal ball shows your desk will not have a supercomputer below it. Most people have fully converted to doing everything through their smartphones. It's been years since my wife had to do anything on a computer outside her work...
Besides, those "website applications" generally rely heavily on Javascript, so they are in fact running in your computer (just in a very very inefficient way!).
Besides, one can also argue that phones are the supercomputer anyway...
Plenty of those already exist, the world doesn't need another. If that's the sort of thing you want, why not use something like that instead of moaning about the existence of other things?
One thing I've noticed with speed tests is that the results vary massively with content. Common, easy English words with no punctuation or capitalization? Easily 100 wpm and more. Source code with all the symbols, numbers, and capitalization? Can dip below 50 wpm...
Interesting to see this pop up now, I recently finished building an open source command line typing tutor myself! The idea of mine is you pass it an existing text file (plain text, markdown, source code, etc) and it tests your ability to re-create that file. This way you can practice typing in any syntax. https://github.com/wtfaremyinitials/monktype
I never formally learned to type, and have picked up some bad habits over the years because of that. I found GNU typist and finally decided to learn how to touch type "correctly".
I'll definitely supplement GNU typist with your tool for practicing.
I used GNU typist when I taught myself touch typing with a Das Keyboard back in the day.
One thing I found annoying was that it insisted on two spaces after a period. I found that annoying so I replaces ". " with ". " in all tutorial files.
> [double spacing between sentences] isn't topographically sound
Why not? In speech, pauses between sentences are longer than pauses between words... I've never understood this debate.
But then, I'm the kind of guy who will write prose like
> He shouted, "Watch out!".
... with duplicated punctuation inside the quotation marks (because they carry meaning and are part of the quotation), so clearly I don't know the MLA or whatever.
That is to say, typographers don't typeset books, newspapers, or magazine with double-spacing after a sentence.
It's a style that emerged from typewriting, because it makes it easier to read monospaced text.
Which is another reason I do it, I'm usually typing in a mono font even when I'm working on prose. That was my point, actually.
Amusingly, the two sentences in the above paragraph have two spaces between them, as do this and the next. But you won't see it, because browsers typeset with one space between sentences.
They don't double space, but most will allow more space. You can double space in TeX source but TeX will apply its own spacing rules which, by default, leave more space after a full stop.
> One thing I found annoying was that it insisted on two spaces after a period.
GNU Emacs' manual has a good explanation:
The sentence commands assume that you follow the American typist's convention of putting two spaces at the end of a sentence. It is useful to follow this convention, because it allows the Emacs sentence commands to distinguish between periods that end a sentence and periods that indicate abbreviations.
Two spaces are a matter of some debate, in the US, and IME are preferred by academic types. For my own part, I much esteem two spaces, and judge harshly the one-spacers, yet accept without much anger the "ignorable whitespace" rules of most HTML text contexts.
The ortholinear layout of my current keyboard forces me to use the right fingers for the right keys - it's actually hard to do it wrong intentionally in some cases. Switching is frustrating in the first couple of days, though.
However, in the end I don't know if it really matters that much if you type "correctly" or not unless you have problems with accuracy.
I think I over-rely on my right hand and it causes some strain. "Correct" typing feels very comfortable but also very slow right now. Other than that, I think you're right and it doesn't matter.
If the problem is that you're not properly touch typing, consider blank key caps. Or, as others suggested, learn a different layout but keep your physical keycap arrangement so you have no choice but to commit to memory.
I learned touch typing at the same time when I learned Dvorak, around 15 years ago or so. I still can't touch type qwerty.
If your problem is using the wrong finger sometimes, I wouldn't worry about it too much. But consider a split ergonomic keyboard, which prevents reaching over to the wrong side.
Thanks. My goal really is to be able to have my fingers above keys and not have to move around as much as I currently do. I am not accustomed to using the correct fingers so end up doing a lot hand moving and contorting which is inefficient and uncomfortable. I'll try correct typing for a while then revert to my old ways because it's faster for now and have work to do.
41 comments
[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 85.5 ms ] threadOn the other hand, while I can see the benefits in a well-connected classroom, GNU Typist works on decade-old hardware, without X (or Wayland, or whatever), with no internet connection, anywhere on Earth, on a tiny CPU/RAM/battery budget. I like it more as a clean, minimal, local program, personally.
This is an enormous retrograde step. There's no reason for everything to be running on someone elses computer. Gigaflops are so cheap that I have more of them in my pocket than could be found in the worlds fastest supercomputers only a few years ago.
Everyone can make their own software as long as it exists on said cloud (ie. a computer owned and controlled by someone else), they are able to access any of "their" files from anywhere - be it their home, work, their friend/parent's places, the terminals at the cafe, their mobiles or whatever and work from anywhere they'd want. Parents love that the terminals of their kids filter out anything that could be considered inappropriate and the more knowledgeable of them customize these filters for their and their friends' kids.
Some may have at the back of their mind that some of that could be abused and have a vague idea of how that could be done, but as it doesn't affect their day-by-day lives they do not pay much attention to it.
Big computers still exist but they are prohibitively expensive for personal use by the vast majority of people.
Besides, those "website applications" generally rely heavily on Javascript, so they are in fact running in your computer (just in a very very inefficient way!).
Besides, one can also argue that phones are the supercomputer anyway...
(yes, I know, it doesn't teach you how to properly use your fingers on the keyboard)
Also, checkout typing.io which has lessons based on open source code.
I thought so too, so I wrote one: https://github.com/codesections/gtypist_programming_characte...
(I submitted it upstream, but the pace of development lately hasn't been all that fast)
I never formally learned to type, and have picked up some bad habits over the years because of that. I found GNU typist and finally decided to learn how to touch type "correctly".
I'll definitely supplement GNU typist with your tool for practicing.
One thing I found annoying was that it insisted on two spaces after a period. I found that annoying so I replaces ". " with ". " in all tutorial files.
I've adopted the convention myself, because of the utility. It isn't typographically sound, but typing is not typography.
Why not? In speech, pauses between sentences are longer than pauses between words... I've never understood this debate.
But then, I'm the kind of guy who will write prose like
> He shouted, "Watch out!".
... with duplicated punctuation inside the quotation marks (because they carry meaning and are part of the quotation), so clearly I don't know the MLA or whatever.
That is to say, typographers don't typeset books, newspapers, or magazine with double-spacing after a sentence.
It's a style that emerged from typewriting, because it makes it easier to read monospaced text.
Which is another reason I do it, I'm usually typing in a mono font even when I'm working on prose. That was my point, actually.
Amusingly, the two sentences in the above paragraph have two spaces between them, as do this and the next. But you won't see it, because browsers typeset with one space between sentences.
As usual, Wikipedia has a lengthy article on the practice, which dates back to Gutenberg.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_sentence_spacing
GNU Emacs' manual has a good explanation:
The sentence commands assume that you follow the American typist's convention of putting two spaces at the end of a sentence. It is useful to follow this convention, because it allows the Emacs sentence commands to distinguish between periods that end a sentence and periods that indicate abbreviations.
So I wrote one: https://github.com/codesections/gtypist_programming_characte...
It builds up to typing out the full code of a (very small) compiler.
However, in the end I don't know if it really matters that much if you type "correctly" or not unless you have problems with accuracy.
I learned touch typing at the same time when I learned Dvorak, around 15 years ago or so. I still can't touch type qwerty.
If your problem is using the wrong finger sometimes, I wouldn't worry about it too much. But consider a split ergonomic keyboard, which prevents reaching over to the wrong side.