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Vote on this poll

weak
[bar] 17/4%
strong
[bar] 27/7%
static
[bar] 8/2%
dynamic
[bar] 55/14%
touch
[bar] 92/24%
blood
[bar] 36/9%
tissue
[bar] 2/1%
geno
[bar] 22/6%
pheno
[bar] 12/3%
one-handed
[bar] 57/15%
stereo
[bar] 57/15%
385 total votes
Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: The most useful form of typing is...
by Anonymous Monk on Dec 16, 2004 at 17:47 UTC
    One-handed typing is a skill we all have to practice from time to time.... Otherwise, how are you gonna hold that pizza slice without breaking precious focus?
      Heh - that would be "monotyping" :-)
Re: The most useful form of typing is...
by robot_tourist (Hermit) on Dec 16, 2004 at 09:10 UTC

    Too early in the morning to think about weak/static/dynamic typing. Also too long since my CS classes (about 20 months!). Perhaps using Perl means I don't care too much about typing. Or is that just stereotyping?

    How can you feel when you're made of steel? I am made of steel. I am the Robot Tourist.
    Robot Tourist, by Ten Benson

      I choose blood
      Its the only one that could kill me if I get it wrong.

      The rest just cause sickness of body or mind
      or both !!!!

Re: The most useful form of typing is...
by zakzebrowski (Curate) on Dec 16, 2004 at 15:14 UTC
    Good ol' touch typing is best... :) Nothing like being able to type faster than I can write long hand...


    ----
    Zak - the office

      I can type faster than I can write, too, but when I'm done you can't read either one. Go figure.

      Paulster2


      You're so sly, but so am I. - Quote from the movie Manhunter.
Re: The most useful form of typing is...
by herveus (Prior) on Dec 16, 2004 at 13:10 UTC
    Howdy!

    ...shouldn't 'feno' be 'pheno'?

    yours,
    Michael

      Yes. Thank you. Sorry. Fixed.

      - tye        

Re: The most useful form of typing is...
by fraktalisman (Hermit) on Dec 16, 2004 at 15:42 UTC
    Stereotypes are often considered a bad thing, that one tries to avoid and still can't help using. OTHOH how could our brains manage to think and set focus on some things while simplifying others, if not with stereotypes?

    Hm ... if there are stereotypes in programming (as a technical term) I don't know its meaning and would be happy to be enlightened about it.

      While the word "stereotype" can denote simple "cataloguing" or "categorization" of a concept, the most common connotation of the word implies an oversimplified and often biased mental image. In this sense, it generally means that the person is not actually thinking about the thing itself, but is rather using the conventional image that was received or formed at some previous time. Therefore I wouldn't say that it's any sort of prerequisite for mental functioning, and could even be seen as a hindrance to real "thought".

      --
      edan

        Wouldn't "stereotyping" mean typing with the left and right hand at the same time....? :-)
      I chose 'stereotype', mainly because I am like all the other evil white male conservatives.

      (And yes, that was intended to be a joke.)

      --
      tbone1, YAPS (Yet Another Perl Schlub)
      And remember, if he succeeds, so what.
      - Chick McGee

Re: The most useful form of typing is...
by nothingmuch (Priest) on Dec 16, 2004 at 22:34 UTC
    Is everyone's opinion on what the difference between strong and dynamic typing in sync?

    I have the impression that static is that it's known in advance, and strong is that it's enforced. Usually strong typing is a prerequisite to static typing, but does not imply when the type check is made.

    Does anyone have a better definition?

    And what's the diff between weak and dynamic?

    -nuffin
    zz zZ Z Z #!perl

      I like your definitions, so I'll try to put together a short list of some of the languages I know and where they fit in the scale.

      • Strong and static: Haskell, ML, PL/SQL, Java (but only if they implemented generics properly so you wouldn't need typecasting)
      • Strong and dynamic: Perl, Lisp, Scheme
      • Weak and static: C, C++, Pascal, Java (as is)
      • Weak and dynamic: Javascript, VB, bash

      The reason (as I understand it) that it is possible to have weakly-typed but also statically-typed languages is because of typecasts: you are essentially instructing the compiler to ignore the type declarations you've already given it. Also note that the first two languages I listed under Strong and Static allow total type polymorphism so that the same functions and data structures can apply to arbitrarily many types, but compile-time resolution still has to be possible.

      Your definitions are close to what is in the litature. Really, "strong" and "static" are orthoginal. Being static means that your language needs to have some means of determining the types at compile time, while strong means those types are difficult to change during execution (runtime). Pascal/C/etc. determine the types via special syntax (int foo, bar; and such), while more modern Hindley-Milner type systems can figure it out based on what you do with the variable the first time you use it.

      "There is no shame in being self-taught, only in not trying to learn in the first place." -- Atrus, Myst: The Book of D'ni.

Re: The most useful form of typing is...
by saskaqueer (Friar) on Dec 16, 2004 at 23:17 UTC
    For all us vampires out there, blood typing is very important ;)
Re: The most useful form of typing is...
by blue_cowdawg (Monsignor) on Dec 25, 2004 at 19:50 UTC

    Touch typing definitely gets it done for me except when I'm using one of my many Palm-OS devices. Then touch typing doesn't apply since I never got one of them folding keyboards that you see on the market for them.

    The way I figure it the times I'd want to use a keyboard with my Palm device is normally when I have access to my laptop or desktop machine and they have keyboards already.

    Stereo-typing? On one hand I avoid it like the plague and on the other some folks insist on being a living stereo-type of one fashion or another. At least that is my experience.

    I get a laugh everytime I meet one of those folks as they are they ones usually complaining about the stereotype affecting the "grouping" they belong to and I don't necessarily refer to race either.

    Geno-typing? That stuff scares the hell out of me. If Big Brother® ever figures out a way to use that to predict people's behavior we are all in big trouble.

    Maybe I'm being paranoid there, but paranoia has saved my butt on more that one occasion during my lifetime.

      Scarier thought: Typing genes and using them for goofy purposes such as carreers to see who is "genetically qualified" for the job, and insurance to see if you are too risky to insure. Although, I do not think this will happen in my lifetime, so I am not worried about it :). If you have not seen Gatica yet, this is where these ideas came from (for me) ;).
One-handed typing
by legato (Monk) on Dec 28, 2004 at 15:44 UTC

    Yes, I know all the lewd jokes about one-handed typing. However, I shattered several bones in my left hand when I was younger, and was faced with the need to type one-handed. I learned the right-handed Dvorak layout out of necessity. My old speed was quickly matched, then surpassed.

    I've since regained the use of my left hand (gotta love good surgeons), but I continue to use right-hand Dvorak. I type around 80WPM, which is plenty fast for code. And, I have a hand free to look up code in the Cookbook, sip my coffee, adjust my stereo, and so on.

    An additional added benefit: if I get RSI in my right hand, I will just learn left-handed Dvorak, and let my right recover. ;-)

    Anima Legato
    .oO all things connect through the motion of the mind

Re: The most useful form of typing is...
by etcshadow (Priest) on Dec 17, 2004 at 04:14 UTC
    proto

    ...but not in perl, really...

    ------------ :Wq Not an editor command: Wq
Re: The most useful form of typing is...
by Joost (Canon) on Dec 17, 2004 at 21:43 UTC
Re: The most useful form of typing is...
by blazar (Canon) on Dec 22, 2004 at 13:00 UTC
    I want to be stereotyped
    I want to be classified
    I want to be a clone
    I want a suburban home
Re: The most useful form of typing is...
by kiz (Monk) on Dec 22, 2004 at 09:09 UTC
    Strong: as in firmly, with force. Not weakly or meekly.


    -- Ian Stuart
    A man depriving some poor village, somewhere, of a first-class idiot.
Re: The most useful form of typing is...
by defjukie (Sexton) on Dec 23, 2004 at 20:40 UTC
    touch-typing is the only way to go... writing with pens sucks for my generation... bout 80% of the other options went over-my-head, but who cares? if they were useful to me I guess I would know them...


    peace out
    ~ defjukie
Re: The most useful form of typing is...
by Mago (Parson) on Dec 19, 2004 at 13:03 UTC
    -- DyNaMiC

    Mago
    mago@rio.pm.org

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