They’re referring to touch typing, which is a formal skill. The lines signify where your index fingers should rest when not used. All fingers are supposed to live in the middle row, and only go for their immediate neighbors up and down. It is not quite the same as just learning to type on your own.
I know what they’re referring to. And I’m saying that if you use keyboards enough, you will naturally develop the muscle memory required for touch typing.
As someone who developed muscle memory on keyboards from 4-6, and then had to unlearn that muscle memory when I was doing touch typing classes, it is just not true that you naturally acquire the muscle memory for touch typing through typing practice.
It’s a formal skill that has to be practiced deliberately to develop.
Hybrid typists can definitely hit high WPM but unless they’re learning to type using the 8 horizontal homerow keys it’s not touch typing. It really is a specific technique.
(I did not downvote you, just adding to the conversation.)
There is no significant difference in WPM or accuracy between people who were self-taught, and those who had formal education. Refusing to call it touch typing, simply because it isn’t using a specific technique, is pedantic at best.
The term “touch typing” is not a generic term for typing at any particular speed, or for typing with or without looking at the keys. It refers to a specific typing technique in which specific fingers are used for specific keys. Referring to the term correctly is not pedantry or elitism. I don’t think anyone is arguing that another technique is inferior, or that it is in any way not typing, only that it is, in fact, different from the specific typing technique referred to as “touch typing”.
In a similar vein, a self-taught fighter could potentially be more skilled than one with some training in Taekwondo. That doesn’t mean that the self-taught fighter is using Taekwondo, and pointing out that difference is not “pedantic at best”; it’s simply correct.
Language doesn’t work like that. In professional and educational contexts? Yeah, it’ll likely refer to a specific technique. But in general? Absolutely not. I’m calling it pedantic because the technique is just that - a technique. I’m not claiming that it has anything to do with skill, WPM, or accuracy, just that they’re the same in those regards. On that point, your analogy doesn’t really work for me, since we have very different views on the topic. You think touch typing is only a specific technique, whereas I think it has a less restrictive definition, certainly in everyday use. To use the same analogy, for me it’s like you’re saying only it’s only Taekwondo if it’s a specific style of Taekwondo.
So, if I’m understanding you correctly, you’re coming upon others who agree with my assertion that the term “touch typing” refers to a specific technique for typing, and using the term to refer to that specific technique, and your response is to call them pedantic because you think the term should be defined more broadly than they (or I) understand it to be defined. Is that correct?
As for the issue you point out with my analogy, I think one of us is confused, and I’m not attempting to imply that I know which one. I used the analogy because touch typing is a specific technique for typing, just as Taekwondo is a specific type of martial arts. A self-taught fighter would be analogous to a self-taught typist. If you believe the term “touch typing” absolutely cannot refer to a specific typing technique, then I would ask for the term you believe is correct to refer to that specific technique to which the rest of us are referring. I’m fine with using a different term to refer to the technique to which I am attempting to refer, but “touch typing” is the only one I know. If you know another, please provide it, and I’ll use that.
I’m not the one who started this discussion on what touch typing means, I’ve just given my view on it. Perhaps I could’ve phrased it more softly, but I won’t deny it’s what I think. And again, I agree with your assertion, but only when specificity is actually required. Otherwise, if you’re going to claim, outside of those contexts, that touch typing only refers to a specific technique, then yes, I think you are being pedantic.
EDIT:
Since I replied to your initial comment, I’ll update this one too. There definitely is some confusion with regard to your analogy. The point I was trying to make is that while Taekwondo is a type of martial art, it has different styles. From my point of view, you think only a specific style meets the definition of Taekwondo, and all others are something else entirely. If I were to choose a different name, I’d say something like 10-finger, or the home row technique. But I’m not going to try and force you to use any term other than what you want to use. I just have my own opinion on when it’s appropriate to be strict and precise in its definition.
I used to go to this secondary school where there were four classes (4x~35 students) each year: two for economics, one for marketing and one for IT. I chose the IT one. They taught basic typing for all four, but speed typing was only required in three. Guess where it wasn’t…
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They’re referring to touch typing, which is a formal skill. The lines signify where your index fingers should rest when not used. All fingers are supposed to live in the middle row, and only go for their immediate neighbors up and down. It is not quite the same as just learning to type on your own.
We learned 10-key (number pad/big calculators) in the same “keyboarding” class. It’s definitely a formal skill and there are specific methods used.
I know what they’re referring to. And I’m saying that if you use keyboards enough, you will naturally develop the muscle memory required for touch typing.
As someone who developed muscle memory on keyboards from 4-6, and then had to unlearn that muscle memory when I was doing touch typing classes, it is just not true that you naturally acquire the muscle memory for touch typing through typing practice.
It’s a formal skill that has to be practiced deliberately to develop.
Hybrid typists can definitely hit high WPM but unless they’re learning to type using the 8 horizontal homerow keys it’s not touch typing. It really is a specific technique.
(I did not downvote you, just adding to the conversation.)
There is no significant difference in WPM or accuracy between people who were self-taught, and those who had formal education. Refusing to call it touch typing, simply because it isn’t using a specific technique, is pedantic at best.
The term “touch typing” is not a generic term for typing at any particular speed, or for typing with or without looking at the keys. It refers to a specific typing technique in which specific fingers are used for specific keys. Referring to the term correctly is not pedantry or elitism. I don’t think anyone is arguing that another technique is inferior, or that it is in any way not typing, only that it is, in fact, different from the specific typing technique referred to as “touch typing”.
In a similar vein, a self-taught fighter could potentially be more skilled than one with some training in Taekwondo. That doesn’t mean that the self-taught fighter is using Taekwondo, and pointing out that difference is not “pedantic at best”; it’s simply correct.
Language doesn’t work like that. In professional and educational contexts? Yeah, it’ll likely refer to a specific technique. But in general? Absolutely not. I’m calling it pedantic because the technique is just that - a technique. I’m not claiming that it has anything to do with skill, WPM, or accuracy, just that they’re the same in those regards. On that point, your analogy doesn’t really work for me, since we have very different views on the topic. You think touch typing is only a specific technique, whereas I think it has a less restrictive definition, certainly in everyday use. To use the same analogy, for me it’s like you’re saying only it’s only Taekwondo if it’s a specific style of Taekwondo.
So, if I’m understanding you correctly, you’re coming upon others who agree with my assertion that the term “touch typing” refers to a specific technique for typing, and using the term to refer to that specific technique, and your response is to call them pedantic because you think the term should be defined more broadly than they (or I) understand it to be defined. Is that correct?
As for the issue you point out with my analogy, I think one of us is confused, and I’m not attempting to imply that I know which one. I used the analogy because touch typing is a specific technique for typing, just as Taekwondo is a specific type of martial arts. A self-taught fighter would be analogous to a self-taught typist. If you believe the term “touch typing” absolutely cannot refer to a specific typing technique, then I would ask for the term you believe is correct to refer to that specific technique to which the rest of us are referring. I’m fine with using a different term to refer to the technique to which I am attempting to refer, but “touch typing” is the only one I know. If you know another, please provide it, and I’ll use that.
I’m not the one who started this discussion on what touch typing means, I’ve just given my view on it. Perhaps I could’ve phrased it more softly, but I won’t deny it’s what I think. And again, I agree with your assertion, but only when specificity is actually required. Otherwise, if you’re going to claim, outside of those contexts, that touch typing only refers to a specific technique, then yes, I think you are being pedantic.
EDIT: Since I replied to your initial comment, I’ll update this one too. There definitely is some confusion with regard to your analogy. The point I was trying to make is that while Taekwondo is a type of martial art, it has different styles. From my point of view, you think only a specific style meets the definition of Taekwondo, and all others are something else entirely. If I were to choose a different name, I’d say something like 10-finger, or the home row technique. But I’m not going to try and force you to use any term other than what you want to use. I just have my own opinion on when it’s appropriate to be strict and precise in its definition.
34 year old american. Same. I learned to type by commenting on reddit.
Same age, but I had typing classes from grade 4. Oddly enough, I grew up in small town Canada, so kinda surprising lol.
I used to go to this secondary school where there were four classes (4x~35 students) each year: two for economics, one for marketing and one for IT. I chose the IT one. They taught basic typing for all four, but speed typing was only required in three. Guess where it wasn’t…