"Voice Driven Development: Who needs a keyboard anyway?" by Emily Shea

[@XoriRuscuv]

Wow... this is incredible. I'm 38. I graduated with my CS degree in 2004. I worked 4 years in development, and "burnt out" because of pain levels. I've been having problems with my left arm (everything from shoulder to wrist) since I was 17 - and at that point it ended my dream of being a musician (which I had worked hard for since I was 5). Now that I'm 38 I NEED to go back into development - trying to relearn my old skills and bring my knowledge up to date so I can go back to restart my career. I've quit gaming, entirely so that I can manage that. I'm already in some pain after 2 weeks of *learning* (ie. not working), not horrible yet, but I know it's coming back. I CAN'T take ANY nsaids (crushing chest pains), I've tried those keyboards and so many other ergo/ortho devices, tried literally having enough icepacks that I can have ice and heat alternating all day. I've had shoulder surgery. After my shoulder surgery I became dependent on painkillers - THAT wasn't fun, plus the surgeon botched the surgery and it was a whole lot of agony for absolutely nothing. Docs can't nail down whether it's in my shoulder, or in the cubital tunnel/guyon tunnel. PS. my issues are on my left side. Left shoulder/elbow/wrist... biggest problems are, like I said, with the nerves that innervate pinky/ring and part of the middle finger - so it's ulnar issue. I rarely have carpal issues. Docs have gone so far as doing thyroid tests and electric conductivity nerve (NCV) tests - and let me tell you, that is NOT fun, even if you're not afraid of needles. It was a loathsome experience but I was (and to a degree still am) willing to do anything to get answers, or I'm going to lose all my dreams, waste my education, and likely die with a wasted life (and no retirement savings). I'm sure that sounds dramatic to some people, but I know it won't sound dramatic to the lecturer.

[@MarkusGebhard]

I'm in very similar situation. Just diagnosed with arthritis. Have you been able to get back into development?

[@Rocksaplenty]

I am just starting and I want to understand how to use it better. I got it today. I really enjoy this program so far, it is the most relaxing way to code and my hand doesn't hurt after work.

[@Rocksaplenty]

@@MarkusGebhard it is very learnable. The site has learning links, and it's very straight forward!

[@mattkriese7170]

I have a very similar story (music as well originally). I'm 28 now, and in my first year of my CS degree and lost my last career due to injury. I feel up against a wall, but this truly feels like a ladder out of a very sad place. I'm just hoping that this will be the beginning of getting back to school, work, and music for me. Best of learning to you all

[@allanwind295]

That was a great presentation. Nicely paced, funny (at times), and insightful and an useful view into voice control that I have not explored. I also thought the contrasting videos was a great way to communicate progress. When I had my brush with RSI, I picked up a Kinesis keyboard first a Freestyle and later an Advantage2 LF, and I was lucky to escape with a warning.

[@muntoonxt]

Say "escape colon whale quench enter" to exit vim.

[@rrr00bb1]

i broke both arms at once, and was being directed by my boss to try something like Dragon; which sounded totally absurd to me, given that i was estimated to be disabled for only a few months. now... i am having to learn braille, and the output part of coding seems like it is going to be very very daunting. i can kind of read braille literature, but my comprehension is too low because i don't read fast enough. punctuation is a total madhouse in braille. on computers, the ambiguous encodings are a problem.

[@ImpostorModanica]

Sorry to hear about your challenges. I hope you'll find the ways and tools to help you have a quality life with your ailments! Get well and keep on keeping on!

[@stilldreamy5181]

The video description is missing links to all the things that were referenced in the talk. I watched this the other day and came back to it today and now I have to watch it all over again to find all the things that were referenced.

[@RoamingAdhocrat]

Blows my mind to think that Vim is relatively easy to use with voice.

[@DrorF]

Awesome talk/presentation! Very interesting.

[@odomobo]

This is pretty amazing. I would have never guessed that such speed is possible with voice input

[@gregbell2117]

This was great Emily, thanks for taking the time to put it all together. I've had RSI for a scarily long time. Like 25 years. Definitely impacted my career, as I wasn't able to sit at a desk and type for 8 hours a day, as was/is sort of conventionally expected. You mentioned lying on the floor to work - how do you look at a screen from there without an injurious neck position? Good luck with your recovery! Waiting patiently for Dragon and Talon to come to Linux...

[@talonvoice]

BTW Greg, there's a Talon beta for Linux now that doesn't require Dragon.

[@hb9809]

Check out aenea for Linux.

[@snwdn]

Not sure how Emily does it but I might use a projector pointed at the ceiling.

[@Rocksaplenty]

I'm using it now, have wrist problems.

[@AndersJackson]

"Everything is command based", sounds like great for Emacs.

[@EngineerNick]

This was facinating thankyou :) Whale Quench!

[@JacobSnover]

Neat, I want to incorporate this more, but also think there is enough changes to the wording that it'd be like learning to code again. And when I pair program with someone, if I say Down Score to them, will they know what I mean? I understand it being hard to say certain things, or it'd be longer with more syllables, but I have to train juniors all the time and might find it difficult to see the language in two different ways. Do I force everyone to understand my language so that I don't have to change, or should I be the one having to code in two different languages now. Not an actual question to you, but the things that I wonder about when considering this option. I think the maodel could be trained to understand code better, and therefore cd can just be cd and not cap dip.

[@michaljanwarecki763]

Does anyone know what overlay Shea uses to display the latest commands? The speech recognition in Norwegian isn't good, and it would be nice to know what pronunciation I have to change to be intelligible for my computer.

[@Rocksaplenty]

The recognition is pretty amazing in my opinion. I enjoy typing whale quench. This is really giving me confidence that I can continue my career. I am typing this on my first day of using Talon, and it's not impossible to learn in a day.

[@Rocksaplenty]

(To my level, anyway!)

[@ZLCProductions]

How is she saying link I can’t get that to work

[@iLiokardo]

Ohhhh, getting the Mitosis was a mistake. No tenting it seems either, that's bad. Basically, Xah Lee's articles on keyboarding: “Why Function Keys Are Useful” xahlee.info/kbd/keyboard_function_keys.html “Ban Key Chords” xahlee.info/kbd/banish_key_chords.html (also, “Why Undo Cut Shortcut Keys Are Bad?” xahlee.info/kbd/keyboard_remap_copy_cut_paste_undo.html)

[@WorstDeveloper]

You could buy a separate numpad and assign keys to various functions there as well.

[@driziiD]

mind => blown

[@sidisting1381]

Mindblowing

[@kevinwnek594]

how would you use this with something that is not python?

[@TonyDehnke]

Amazing!

[@BethKjos]

This stuff is amazing. But I'll tell you what: We're humans. Speech is our default mode of communication. It's five times faster than typing. I predict speech-based development becomes the default choice before this generation is out.

[@sashaboydcom]

This is amazing! I'd love to see a future where voice coding is more normalized; someone shouldn't have to struggle through great pain or risk losing their career.

[@CoughSyrup]

I too was wondering why... why perl?