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I broke my left collarbone and my left hand completely immobilized so I can type only with my right hand (thank God I'm right-handed). As you can imagine my typing speed is greatly reduced.

Can anyone suggest a way to overcome this impediment, maybe some emacs mode or Visual Studio plug-in which is specially designed for people who can only type with one hand?

I'm not big mouse user so any suggestions how simplify my interaction with OS (Linux, Windows) are welcome.

Nietzche-jou
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Serge
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  • Is your left hand permanently immobilized, or just temporarily while your collar bone heals and you have your arm in a sling? All these suggestions for relearning how to type in a different way seem excessive if it's just temporary. How about just asking a lowly assistant to take over some of your less important duties to accommodate your lower typing speed for now? – Xiaofu Mar 06 '10 at 08:46
  • I asked a similar question on SU: http://superuser.com/questions/403907/how-can-one-handed-work-in-emacs-be-eased. – N.N. Mar 24 '12 at 18:57

6 Answers6

5

Take the time it takes to heal, to let yourself heal!

If that isn't an option, try to think out as much as you can before ever touching the keyboard. (I try to do that anyway .. even works for me sometimes:-)

But most of all, take care and get well soon!

lexu
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There is a Dvorak keyboard layout for typing with just the right hand:

Nietzche-jou
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I was acquainted with a programmer with an artificial dummy hand. However, he typed faster than me, and he was doing it in regular editors. So, the typing speed in such circumstances is just a matter of habit, I guess.

P Shved
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1

Learn the dvorak right-hand keyboard. You can switch to this layout in Windows, Mac, or Linux. In windows it is under control panel, regional.

Aaron
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Speech recognition can help a lot. But you know, it won't be that long before you get the hand back.

Andrew McGregor
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  • How much of what you type is actually code? Speech helps a lot with email and documentation. Yes, it's terrible for code, but typing speed in code isn't the limiting factor anyway. – Andrew McGregor Mar 07 '10 at 00:00
  • This is a software development Q&A site after all. The question specifically mentioned Visual Studio. – Zano Mar 18 '10 at 12:28
  • Yes, and even when I'm principally working on developing software I find that code is only 1/3 of what I type. – Andrew McGregor Mar 18 '10 at 21:29
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I think there is nothing to worry, if you are very good with emacs commands, i read here in stackoverflow that there is some solution to work in visual studio with emacs commands, i will try to search/learn more about it and edit this answer when something to add. Good luck

Some more usefull links:

  1. visual-studio-emacs
Community
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Prashant Lakhlani
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