But right now, I feel I’m the person that can tell this whole story better than anyone else ever before, this story that eluded many experts. It’s a really great feeling.
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Replying to @mwichary
And the best part to share: I didn’t get here because I have access to secrets, or because I’m particularly clever. I just really, *really* wanted to figure it out, and I believe I did this using tools and resources that most other people have.
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Replying to @mwichary
Taking a short break from writing to validate a keyboard layout hypothesis…pic.twitter.com/f4uQWXwzPy
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Replying to @mwichary
Why don’t *you* try to write some recursive code and then I’ll judge you, Firefox.pic.twitter.com/hH7CmWGSim
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Replying to @mwichary
Chrome went… a different way.pic.twitter.com/BUTXkAtqhU
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Replying to @mwichary
to go!!!
To celebrate writing about QWERTY/Dvorak, I apparently turned myself into a Dvorak typewriter robot. (Turns out, I have no idea how to take selfies.)pic.twitter.com/QSoGIPOas9
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Replying to @mwichary
As a writer I’m supposed to be good with words, so with a mild embarrassment I’m reporting that it took me *two solid days* to realize people saying “progamers” was not a typo for “programmers,” but rather a shortening of “professional gamers.”
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Replying to @mwichary
In my defense, there’s a huge overlap between keyboards for professional gamers and programmers. (Also, a chapter title “Programmers and pro-gamers” has a nice ring to it.)
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Replying to @mwichary
chapters to go!
Here’s me with the Cambridge Z88 (lent by @scottjenson) and an appropriately British background.pic.twitter.com/Oxblr3vXJi
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Replying to @mwichary @scottjenson
One of my favourite moments in this process is when what seems like a forgettable artifact reveals its actual incredible meaning – but only once you look closer and put time in getting to know it.
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This is a 1928 thesis about typewriting errors, by Gertrude Ford. On the surface it looks pretty boring… but this is the actual research that inspired a certain August Dvorak to try to reinvent the keyboard. I just got a rare copy of it from the University of Washington!pic.twitter.com/UGJxHkfF43
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Replying to @mwichary
Also, it bothered me it was so rare, so I just scanned it and put it on Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/AStudyOfTypewritingErrorsThesis …
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