Hello,

Just getting started with Emacs. Would like to get advice on how to
train finger movement when learning/using Emacs.

Should I try to continue to follow standard, English typing rules...
where you park your fingers on the home-row, and then press a key only
with the finger reserved for it? Or, should I feel free to jump
arbitrarily or do whatever is necessary/convenient to become effective
longer-term?

Saw an article or two on the Net ( http://steve.yegge.googlepages.com/effective-emacs
) where the authors are recommending swapping CAPS and CTRL keys. Not
sure if this by itself would be enough, or if I would need to also
break standard typing rules?

For example: If I had to type
C-x t C-u 8 0

using the standard typing rules, I would use
( )

SomeDeveloper gmail.com> wrote:

Hi!

I've used Emacs a lot for a long time. What I'm about to say works for
me, but there's no guarantee it'll work for you. I suggest you take
everybody's suggestions here and try them out. Then put them together
in the way which works for you.

I stick to English touch-typing rules. If you can do it, I'd stick with
this. However, I've also got a secondary "home position", with my right
hand down by the 4 arrow keys (middle, ring, pinky), (thumb) and
(fore).

About touch-typing habits when using emacs shortcuts keys ...

I've done some research in the past few years and wrote few articles
on this ... Please see:

• How To Avoid The Emacs Pinky Problem
http://xahlee.org/emacs/emacs_pinky.html

• Why Emacs's Keyboard Shortcuts Are Painful
http://xahlee.org/emacs/emacs_kb_shortcuts_pain.html

• A Ergonomic Keyboard Shortcut Layout
http://xahlee.org/emacs/ergonomic_emacs_keybinding.html

Personally, i've been using my ergo shortcut map for a year now.

Here's my “.emacs” for keybinding:

http://xahlee.org/emacs/ergonomic_keybinding_unbind.el
http://xahlee.org/emacs/ergonomic_keybinding_dvorak.el
http://xahlee.org/emacs/xah_emacs_kbd_shortcuts.el

Xah
∑ http://xahlee.org/

☄

On Jul 9, 8:22 am, SomeDeveloper gmail.com> wrote:

...

Glad you asked;

I always felt too much of a newbie to ask; although I have been using
emacs on and off for three years.

I hope many experienced users take the time to respond. I for one will
be watching this thread closely.

On Wed, 2008-07-09 at 08:22 -0700, SomeDeveloper wrote:

[snip]

--
Regards Bill;
Fedora 9, Gnome 2.22.2
Evo.2.22.2, Emacs 22.2.1

SomeDeveloper wrote:

I always use normal touch-typing rules. Maybe that would be difficult if
I did not use sticky keys/modifiers:

http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/wiki/StickyModifiers

Beside that I try to use what I am accustomed to. So I turn on cua-mode
and viper-mode.

() SomeDeveloper gmail.com>
() Wed, 9 Jul 2008 08:22:57 -0700 (PDT)

Or, should I feel free to jump arbitrarily or do whatever is
necessary/convenient to become effective longer-term?

stillness of mind sought,
hands unbud (one nanosec):
jam the Right key now.

focusing all thought,
no one but NSA cares
your tapping Fist how.

thi

SomeDeveloper gmail.com> writes:

Okay, before I read everyone else's responses, as I am academically
curious after seeing the bad typing habits of some fellow heavy keyboard
users...

Absolutely --- do not hunt and peck, do not use two fingers on the same
hand at the same time, except in emergencies. Hold your wrists up from
the table when you type and take frequent breaks.

Hmmm??? How are you going to develop your own typing strategy from
scratch? Just curious on this one.

SomeDeveloper gmail.com> writes:

Sorry, forgot to fill this in:

I do recommend making the key to the left of "A" a control key; it has
saved me a lot of motion and increased my speed while using Emacs.
However, it's hard to remember that for my wife's desktop, it's still
Caps Lock, and sometimes I end up repeating my typing.

Here's my .Xmodmap file (in case you're using a Unix-like system):

adamsonj@email.unc.edu (Joel J. Adamson) writes:

I suspect she wants a HHKB (happy hacking keyboard) for her birthday...

-Miles

Miles Bader gnu.org> writes:

Yeah, maybe she wants one for MY birthday ;)

Joel