I would like to disagree. While it might be true that being good at typing can help and certainly doesn't hurt I don't think it is a requirement. Also being slow at typing will make you think twice at what you are writing, which is good! Personally I learnt to type properly only finding my first full time job!
I've found typing faster means thinking faster, reading faster, comprehending faster, developing faster, debugging faster and generally getting things done faster.
I cheated my way through the typing classes in Computer Lit and couldn't touch type for a long time after I was coding professionally. Eventually I felt a bit ridiculous about it and bought a Das Keyboard Ultimate. I never did exercises or anything, just committed to typing on that keyboard at work. After a couple of weeks I was typing faster than ever without looking. One of the better investments I've made.
Point noted duiker101, I think though typing well is a discipline in itself and enhances dev productivity.
I think there was a post by Steve Yegge a few years back on learning to type <a href="http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2008/09/programmings-dirtiest-little-secret.html" rel="nofollow">http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2008/09/programmings-dirties...</a>
The way you type <i>is not</i> related to the way you think, and therefore code.<p>I must say extensive computer use (and mainly coding) is what made me type fast & accurately enough (according to the various tests found on this blog post).<p>Knowing how to talk in a foreign language will help you write better in this same language. I'm not sure that such an analogy can be drawn from typing/coding.<p>I know some dyslexic people coding pretty well and I'd say that most of the time it's a problem of accuracy.
Question to any touch typist who codes: how do you cope with all the special characters: (){}[];:'`!@#$% ?<p>Do they slow you or make you leave the home row?
I felt this was a subliminal advertisement for Ratatype so I tried it out. Not many people use it: I got placed 4 / 75 with these mediocre stats: <a href="http://imgur.com/ikSxiSE" rel="nofollow">http://imgur.com/ikSxiSE</a><p>I suggest to add some WPM time visualization and a shortcut for restarting. Thank you, it was fun.
If you are a non-typist and you are going to learn to type you should learn Dvorak or Colemak. For anyone who already knows Qwerty it isn't worth the time to re-train, but if you don't know any layout yet it's a good opportunity to chose an optimal one.
Yes my technique improved after i purchased a kinesis advantage split keyboard which forced me to separate hands, Now with gtypist drills I am much better on regular ones as well. Great to know learning to type has worked well for you @joshontheweb & @j45
Jeff Atwood wrote something similar about this: <a href="http://blog.codinghorror.com/we-are-typists-first-programmers-second/" rel="nofollow">http://blog.codinghorror.com/we-are-typists-first-programmer...</a>
Great thing. Pass a test at <a href="http://www.ratatype.com/typing-test/" rel="nofollow">http://www.ratatype.com/typing-test/</a> and print a typing certificate, put in CV.
Meh. You don't need to type that fast to write software. You'll spend far more time designing your program than you will actually typing on the keyboard.