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Looking To Improve My Touch Typing of Symbols

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tinjaw:
My New Year's resolution is to stop mucking with DVORAK, COLEMAK, etc. and just become a better touch typist. My problem is that I am good with A-Z, excellent beyond compare with the Backspace key  :-[ but crappy with everything else.

And I am a programmer ! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

So I need to work on [ ] { ] \ | > < 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 - = ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) _ +

I am looking for a tutor or game that will allow me to choose the keys I want to practice and then help me practice in a way that doesn't make my want to hang myself by my thumbnails due to boredom.

My goal is to be able to do all of my programming without looking at the keyboard or removing my fingers from home row.

I don't want to "just type" because tying to (re)learn these keys while doing actually coding distracts me from the coding and my productivity drops infinitely close to zero.

JennyB:
I don't know of any tutorials, but way back in the 8-bit days I wrote a little program that let me enter an arbitrary strling and then repeat it any number of times, reporting time taken and number of mistakes made.

lanux128:
i was concerned about this too some time ago but for different reasons.

slowmaker:
help me practice in a way that doesn't make my want to hang myself by my thumbnails due to boredom.
-tinjaw (December 31, 2009, 02:33 PM)
--- End quote ---

I noticed your tag-line mentioned music (breakbeat techno), which reminded me of a semi-obsession I had a few years ago with the idea of 'tune typing'. I never implemented it, but the idea was to tie MIDI notes to keys and ... well, do something. Never did figure out what, it just seemed like such a neat idea I almost couldn't let it go.

Is there anything out there that does something with music and the computer keyboard that would constitute customizable practice? Maybe even just a limited set of notes with a limited few practice keys, like 1 2 3 - 0 9 tied to C Eb F Gb G Bb (blues scale), so that any sequence would have an interesting sound. That way you could type practice sequences without it being quite so boring?

KeithBu:
I would recommend obtaining one of the mature commercial programs.

 I use Typing Instructor Platinum version 21 by Individual Software; it's the best I've ever used (and finding the perfect typing tutor had been my obsession for a lot of years). 

It has a built-in "Symbols Plan" that you can use right away, and capability to make your own.  There is large variety of normal and game-type activity, so you should be able to find something that doesn't bore you too much. 

This version has all the bells and whistles and retails for around $30 usd. They have some more inexpensive versions that may meet your needs.

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