I'm currently typing about 90 wpm (from http://speedtest.10-fast-fingers.com/ 90 correct 0 missed) using two fingers and the occasional ring or index. This probably grew from learning to type at an early age, before home-row was presented to me.
Is this acceptable? Do people religiously endorse home-row even with low-mistake poking without looking at the keyboard?
As long as your typing is fast and accurate, no one has a right to judge...
90 wpm is a good typing speed. As long as you're being as efficient as possible, go for it!
The only reason you may want to learn home-row typing is so that you can know how fast you are using that method. If you're doing 90 by poking, you'd probably be a speed demon with home-row!
90WPM is a good typing speed. In fact people can easily learn and improve there typing speed with the help of many touch typing software in the market. These software are easily available in the market and easy to learn as well.
if you are typing 90 wpm with two fingers then by all means don't stop in my opinion. I learned via the home-row style and only average around 30 - 50 wpm. :)
I actually got a D in my typing class (still typewriter) and I remember telling my teacher, I'm never going to use this....
Ah, famous last words of a youngen... :)
There are people who are religious about it. But if you can type 90 wpm with two fingers, who cares what other people think? Your two fingers are faster than my 10.
Here's someone who is religious about it. Makes for amusing reading: http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2008/09/programmings-dirtiest-little-secret.html
I second Robert Cartaino's suggestion about putting a video on youtube. I want to see this! No video editing tricks allowed.
Speed and accuracy is more important than how many fingers you type with. Perhaps more important though is how much concentration your typing method requires. This is an area where touch typing has an advantage.
Programmers that don't need to stop and look at their keyboard have a higher probability of putting their ideas into code quickly and efficiently. It is argued that non-touch typists may be more prone to taking shortcuts that sacrifice code quality.
Jeff Atwood has a nice blog post on this subject which contains a reference to a much longer rant on Stevey's Blog.
My impression is that people who know how to touch type tend to write more documentation in their code - just because it's easy. That's why I would check the typing speed of programmers when hiring, and 10 finger typists would have some bonus.
By the way: learning home-row typing is probably much easier for you than you think. Just understand the basic principle and remind yourself periodically how it should be done and how to place your hands on the keyboard, and you will be typing faster and more conveniently in a couple of weeks. There is no need to take a course or something.
Who in hell would care how you use a keyboard?
Our code is our art, somebody caring how you typed it is like someone refusing to buy art because of how an artist holds the pencil.
So, this question could not be more irrelevant. Voting to close.
In middle school I typed blazingly fast using the first two fingers of each hand and both thumbs. I was made to take a touch-typing class (on horrible IBM Selectrics), forgot the system I'd invented, and have never been able to recover the speed I had when I was eleven. If the shoe fits, then by all means wear it.
My concern wouldn't be about whether your typing style is acceptable, but whether it's safe. Although I don't have any evidence that this is the case, it's possible that your differing typing style might make you more prone to repetitive stress injuries such as carpal tunnel. If you start having pain problems, consider trying to learn to type more traditionally and it might help.
I probably only make around 60 WPM myself (depends what you consider a "word" -- insert two-byte joke here) so I don't think your speed is anything to worry about.