Coding with a Broken Hand
Yeah, had to go through it
It’s been two weeks since my last blog that I posted, and in that time, I have managed to brake a bone in my hand :) . As someone who does spend a fair amount of time using a keyboard to produce code, having a broken hand does have it’s set backs.
If you’ve read my previous story ‘How I plan to be successful in 2017’, I shared that I have already been writing with my left hand. So I’m not too screwed because I’ve already become somewhat ambisinistral (A lesser version of ambidextrous where you can use your opposite hand almost as well as the right).
Has it been a negative experience or a positive experience? Neither. This video that I found last week really spread light on the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ situations that happen in life.
What are some new perspectives that I’ve drawn from braking my hand
- I realised I took having two hands for granted
- There’s more that could be done to remove the barriers for the disabled and technology
- Emergency departments in hospitals have ridiculous waiting times (I waited for 5 hours before going in to get a cast [10:00pm — 3:00am])
- Software in hospitals suck. I might try and help improve their systems one day.
I could not have gained some of these outlooks without this event happening to me, and I’m very grateful that I have gained some of these outlooks. That video is actually so great in general and I love all of the work that PrinceEA ( short for Prince of Earth) does.
When did I break my hand and how?
Jumped over a landing mat doing some gymnastics training… Sorry if it’s not that exciting. Managed to do the the 3rd metacarpal in my hand doing it though.
Now that you know how I’ve done it, I’ll show you what I’ve been doing to deal with Typing:
Typing
“One handed Typing Sucks” — Me
I’ve been one handed typing for almost two weeks and progress is very slow. It’s no ‘Eat and drink while you code’ sort of luxury. I max out at about 25WPM and that’s without any of the special characters necessary for coding. Pressing the shift key is a pain with one hand and can take more than 2 seconds to achieve in some cases.
I decided to do a little experiment on different techniques that I have been using to type with a broken hand. I just used the one minute Aesop’s Fables typing test at (http://www.typingtest.com/) for each of the techniques. Without a broken hand, I can pretty consistently score around the 100WPM on this platform, so any score can be seen as a percentage of typing at my original speed.
3 Techniques that I’ve used for typing
- Hunt and Peck
Hunt and Peck simply means that you search for the key and press it when you find it. I used my left pointer finger to press each of the keys individually. Because I can touch type, it was pretty intuitive to find all of the keys. You do have to look at the keyboard for everything that you type though.
2. One Handed Touch Typing
This is the score that I received when I did the typing test with the single handed touch typing technique. I placed my hands in the centre, and used my right thumb for capitalized characters. You can see that using this technique was very ineffective. Although, memorising and mapping a new keyboard layout was a painful process. You do pick up speed after a while, and I believe that I could type up to 40WPM in another 2 weeks, it’s too hard for special characters. You tediously have to ‘hunt and peck’ them with the left hand, then place your hands back on the keyboard in the middle. Because you have to reach out so far for most of the keys, it’s much easier to make a mistake.
3. Left Hand Touch Types while the Right Hand Hunt and Pecks
After a while of failing with both of those techniques, I tried something else, and it worked much better. It’s a hybrid of standard touch typing and ‘hunt and peck’. I simply type normally with the left hand and stab the correct key with the right thumb.
Note: This did not cause any harm or pain in my hand. My fingers and thumbs can move without pain. Because the metacarpal is broken, I just can’t clench a fist or grip things rightly
Conclusion
If you find yourself in a position where you have broken your hand, it is best to use the hybrid technique (if you can). You’ll be typing at approximately 50% of your standard speed instead of 20% with single handed touch typing. If not, the ‘hunt and peck’ will be the better technique to use.
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