On Fri, 9 Oct 2015 00:15:00 +0200 Tony Mechelynck <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Thu, Oct 8, 2015 at 7:33 PM, Gevisz <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Thu, 8 Oct 2015 22:23:33 +1100 Erik Christiansen > > <[email protected]> wrote: > > > >> On 06.10.15 01:01, Filype Pereira wrote: > >> > So, I started reading a vim book and didn't get very far, when I stopped > >> > at this line: > >> > > >> > > If you can't touch type, then go learn it and then come back to learn > >> > > vim. > >> > >> What a load of bollocks! > >> > >> During three decades of earning a living developing software, I used > >> vi/vim for the last quarter century without ever learning to touch type. > >> OK, I use quite a few fingers, and it goes pretty fast, but I do need to > >> look at the keyboard most of the time. That doesn't manifest as a > >> practical problem, since the computers I've used have all been very good > >> at remembering what I've typed, so I have no need to view the screen at > >> more than infrequent intervals. > >> > >> One thing I've noticed is that where one values quality over quantity, > >> it is the amount of thought that goes into a composition which matters, > >> not how rapidly it was input, or whether the typist did it with his eyes > >> closed. > > > > Completely agree and would throw the book after the phrase right into the > > trash bin. > > > > Unfortunately, I cannot boast that I use vim for a three decade, but I do > > use it > > and I do type using computers for a quarter of century. > > > > When necessary, I type fast enough to do my job quickly but I never tried > > to learn > > a touch typing and I should admit that for me it is already too late to > > learn it. > > > > Nevertheless, I do use a "blind typing" in the sense that I do not look into > > the monitor when I type, only to the keyboard. I get used to this style yet > > about 25 years ago trying to save my eyes from the ray monitors of that > > days. > > > > Usually, I type a whole sentence without looking into the monitor. > > > > It does not mean that I do not know my keyboard layout. I do know it and > > can type > > in a complete darkness (but much more slowly, of course). > > > > My hands move over the keyboard almost automatically but I still need a > > little feedback > > from my eyes to not hit "i" instead of "o" for example. > > > > In this connection I have only one inconvenience connected with the facts > > that > > 1) I usually have to use 3 keyboard layouts at the same time switching > > between them with a hot key, > > 2) it is impossible to have a "direct hot key switch" to a certain keyboard > > layout in Linux world. > > > > Because of that I have to remember all the time not only in which vim mode > > I am but also in which > > keyboard layout I am and it is too much for me. As the result, I too often > > end up raising my eyes > > to the monitor and finding out that I have typed the whole sentence in > > incorrect keybord layout. :( > > > > In such times I very much miss the good old MS DOS keyrus driver that could > > have been configured > > to produce a pleasant "crimping" noise when typing in a cyrillic keyboard > > layout and nothing > > when typing in Latin keyboard layout, for example. > > > > But the "direct hot key switch" could also help a lot in this situation. > > Unfortunately, as far as I know, it is impossible in the Linux World. > > > > P.S. By a "direct hot key switch" I mean the hot key that switches directly > > to a certain > > keyboard layout, not by circling through all the active ones. > > > > However, such a "direct hot key switch" is possible in Windows. > > In Vim (but only in Vim) I also use 3 keyboard layouts, and there I > could, if I wanted, assign them to hotkeys, even though I'm on Linux: > • Most of the time I use a Belgian AZERTY keyboard with international > Latin letters, as shown at > http://users.skynet.be/antoine.mechelynck/other/keybbe.htm. This is my > only keyboard layout outside Vim. > • A significant minority of my time is spent typing Russian with one > keymap. If I need Russian text outside Vim I use copy-paste from Vim > to the other application. > • Even less often, I use a different keymap for Arabic. > Both of these keymaps are (more or less) "phonetic", i.e. e.g. hitting > the b key produces the letter having the b sound in that alphabet. I > provide additional letters by means of dead keys (keymap entries with > a {lhs} of two characters). I use English and two Cyrillic keyboard layouts that cannot be regarded "phonetic" with respect to the English one. That is why I have decided that learning a touch typing is useless for me as I need to learn it at least for two very different keyboard layouts, which is too much for me. > It is enough for me to map the <F8> key to toggle the current keymap > on and off in both Normal and Insert mode, and to have a custom > statusline remind me which keymap (if any) is currently in use, but > only when &l:iminsert == 1 -- -- You received this message from the "vim_use" maillist. Do not top-post! Type your reply below the text you are replying to. For more information, visit http://www.vim.org/maillist.php --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "vim_use" group. 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