I have been on and off a programmer over the last 10 years. and the last 3 have been using vim(only these 3 were on linux), used to be scite for the first 3 years and whatever was available the rest of the time (which was mostly part-time programming, was otherwise studying cog. sci). I have so far been against the mousing faster than keyboarding argument and even now i reach more easier for the keyboard.
But over the last year i have been writing and i can relate to that effect of interference caused by planning keystrokes in my writing(guess still am not enough of a programmer to notice it in writing code).
So i am beginning to understand that the question assumes a simplicity that plain and simple speed in some specific and narrow lab task is indicative of real-world problems and challenges. (Aka, problem analysis, solution space search, choice of solution, planning execution and then execution).Depending on the experimenter and the lab group he's working with, these experiments tend to focus on isolating one of these phenomena/mental processes(sometimes not even clear to the experimenter).
Anyway, at the moment i am convinced that writing is best done in blind manner, ie: no visual input, switched off monitor. I currently use a white on black bg on 750 words, but wish i could find a way to turn off monitor on my laptop and keep typing.
P.S: i found the same thing about QWERTY vs DVORAK Layout. i was a touch-typist(barely average) on QWERRTY too and all the research suggested it's not worth re-learning DVORAK. I started it off as an experiment(1 hr a day of DVORAK for 2 or 3 weeks) find that my writing stamina has improved. I'll bet that there are hand/palm size(area, angle,distance between fingers etc.) variations in the effect of KB layout and that's a statistically significant factor.
>I started it off as an experiment(1 hr a day of DVORAK for 2 or 3 weeks) find that my writing stamina has improved.
I think that anything that causes the person to pay more "perceptual" attention to the details of the physical process of typing will improve "writing stamina" and will reduce the chance of RSI. I tend to think that the reason people's RSI goes away when they start to learn Dvorak is that the need to learn causes them to pay more attention to the physical process of typing (and that a Dvorak user who never learned Qwerty would see approximately the same benefits if he started to learn and to use Qwerty). I am much more confident of my first sentence than my second sentence.
(To be painfully explicit, I tend to think that there are better ways of paying more attention to the physical process of typing than learning Dvorak. E.g., just resolve to pay more attention works pretty well.)
So i am beginning to understand that the question assumes a simplicity that plain and simple speed in some specific and narrow lab task is indicative of real-world problems and challenges. (Aka, problem analysis, solution space search, choice of solution, planning execution and then execution).Depending on the experimenter and the lab group he's working with, these experiments tend to focus on isolating one of these phenomena/mental processes(sometimes not even clear to the experimenter).
Anyway, at the moment i am convinced that writing is best done in blind manner, ie: no visual input, switched off monitor. I currently use a white on black bg on 750 words, but wish i could find a way to turn off monitor on my laptop and keep typing.
P.S: i found the same thing about QWERTY vs DVORAK Layout. i was a touch-typist(barely average) on QWERRTY too and all the research suggested it's not worth re-learning DVORAK. I started it off as an experiment(1 hr a day of DVORAK for 2 or 3 weeks) find that my writing stamina has improved. I'll bet that there are hand/palm size(area, angle,distance between fingers etc.) variations in the effect of KB layout and that's a statistically significant factor.