Comments on: Visualization Tricks - Generate a Heatmap of your Keystrokes http://www.blendedtechnologies.com/visualization-tricks-generate-a-heatmap-of-your-keystrokes/194 Established January 2005 Sun, 06 Jul 2008 05:01:02 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0 by: Ronald http://www.blendedtechnologies.com/visualization-tricks-generate-a-heatmap-of-your-keystrokes/194#comment-24758 Fri, 29 Feb 2008 08:56:23 +0000 http://www.blendedtechnologies.com/visualization-tricks-generate-a-heatmap-of-your-keystrokes/194#comment-24758 It seems like the ;, {, }, (, and ) keys would get a lot more action with Java. It seems like the ;, {, }, (, and ) keys would get a lot more action with Java.

]]> by: Det http://www.blendedtechnologies.com/visualization-tricks-generate-a-heatmap-of-your-keystrokes/194#comment-23219 Thu, 31 Jan 2008 10:09:06 +0000 http://www.blendedtechnologies.com/visualization-tricks-generate-a-heatmap-of-your-keystrokes/194#comment-23219 (Well, in my first sentence I wanted to say: in search for '«' and '»' characters.) (Well, in my first sentence I wanted to say: in search for ‘«’ and ‘»’ characters.)

]]> by: Det http://www.blendedtechnologies.com/visualization-tricks-generate-a-heatmap-of-your-keystrokes/194#comment-23216 Thu, 31 Jan 2008 09:59:55 +0000 http://www.blendedtechnologies.com/visualization-tricks-generate-a-heatmap-of-your-keystrokes/194#comment-23216 Would be interesting to trace keyhits of some template programmers for openArchitectureWare. Perhaps this would be a totally equalised heatmap, as they press EVERY key in search for this damn '>' characters ... ;-) . @Nikolai (#2): Yes, typing code on a german keyboard is exactly why I learned to type english 10 finger system. By switching the layout everything's easier. And if you have to switch inside a text very often between code an prosa, the spanish keyboard is a good trade-off. You only miss the sz sign. All coding is way easier than on german layout, and umlauts are possible too. For a professional coder learning to type blindly with an adequate layout is definitely worth the effort. Would be interesting to trace keyhits of some template programmers for openArchitectureWare. Perhaps this would be a totally equalised heatmap, as they press EVERY key in search for this damn ‘>’ characters … ;-) .

@Nikolai (#2):

Yes, typing code on a german keyboard is exactly why I learned to type english 10 finger system. By switching the layout everything’s easier.

And if you have to switch inside a text very often between code an prosa, the spanish keyboard is a good trade-off. You only miss the sz sign. All coding is way easier than on german layout, and umlauts are possible too.

For a professional coder learning to type blindly with an adequate layout is definitely worth the effort.

]]> by: Greg - CEO/Founder http://www.blendedtechnologies.com/visualization-tricks-generate-a-heatmap-of-your-keystrokes/194#comment-23069 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 07:06:47 +0000 http://www.blendedtechnologies.com/visualization-tricks-generate-a-heatmap-of-your-keystrokes/194#comment-23069 Nex, good point. I wonder if you could modify the utility to have profiles for different editors? Nex, good point. I wonder if you could modify the utility to have profiles for different editors?

]]> by: nex http://www.blendedtechnologies.com/visualization-tricks-generate-a-heatmap-of-your-keystrokes/194#comment-23067 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 06:44:57 +0000 http://www.blendedtechnologies.com/visualization-tricks-generate-a-heatmap-of-your-keystrokes/194#comment-23067 It was already mentioned that just tallying up character counts isn't quite accurate; here's another example for this, from the Python world: Figuring out where to indent in Python is so trivial that every sane editor should do it for you. (Basically it's enough to increase the indent level when the previous live ends in a colon.) Therefore, the actual number of key-presses for tab would be much lower than projected (unless you use tab for auto-completion), while the backspace key would be used much more than projected (often you start a new line and it's automatically indented more than you want). I guess heavy use of auto-completion would also shift the distribution away from letters and more towards punctuation. It was already mentioned that just tallying up character counts isn’t quite accurate; here’s another example for this, from the Python world: Figuring out where to indent in Python is so trivial that every sane editor should do it for you. (Basically it’s enough to increase the indent level when the previous live ends in a colon.) Therefore, the actual number of key-presses for tab would be much lower than projected (unless you use tab for auto-completion), while the backspace key would be used much more than projected (often you start a new line and it’s automatically indented more than you want). I guess heavy use of auto-completion would also shift the distribution away from letters and more towards punctuation.

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