All the Perl that's Practical to Extract and Report

Is this RSI? :-|

cog on 2004-09-27T13:37:31

I'm starting to wonder if I have some problem with my wrists/fingers... they occasionally hurt... ouch :-|

And my little finger on my left hand hurts more when I use the control key a lot... :-|

Too much use Perl; entries?

ambs on 2004-09-27T13:42:15

Maybe this is caused by too many Use Perl; entries? Now, seriously, try doing some gymnastics off-keyboard. Also, try not to work too much in laptops. The small keyboards don't help.

Re:Too much use Perl; entries?

cog on 2004-09-27T13:54:12

But all I have is a laptop! :-)

Re:Too much use Perl; entries?

ambs on 2004-09-27T13:59:36

An external keyboard is not much money.

Re:Too much use Perl; entries?

cog on 2004-09-27T14:14:38

I see your point... I don't know how I could fit a keyboard in my laptop's bag... but I do see your point...

Re:Too much use Perl; entries?

nicholas on 2004-09-27T14:17:32

How many places do you use your laptop for long periods? Maybe buy(*) each a keyboard?

* for some value of buy, such as "beg, borrow or steal"

Re:Too much use Perl; entries?

cog on 2004-09-27T14:24:30

Hum... that's a nice idea... :-)

I'll give it a try.

perl -e 'print (qw/beg borrow steal/[rand 3])'

Re:Too much use Perl; entries?

dmarner on 2004-09-27T17:39:25

I used to carry a Happy Hacking Keyboard in my bag. It is much smaller than a full-size keyboard, but it got that way by reducing keycount rather than keysize. My new PowerBook has a much nicer keyboard than my old laptop, so I use it at home now. It has all the alphanumeric and puncuation keys, plus alt, command, control and escape; every key you need for emacs or vi. On the rare occasions I needed to hit "Scroll Lock" or the like, I would just reach up to the laptop's built in keyboard.

I think it has a nice feel, but that is a very subjective matter. Too bad about the goofy name, though.

Re:Too much use Perl; entries?

Juerd on 2004-09-27T16:51:38

If your laptop has a good keyboard, typing on it should not be any worse than typing on a normal keyboard. However, if the keys are smaller than normal or if they don't "feel right", get an external keyboard for using it any longer than a few minutes. And consider getting another laptop, and next time don't just look at the specs, but **TRY** a used model first, for at least a day.

However, because laptop screens are not detachable and the screen should be located much higher, you should get at least either an external keyboard or screen. A keyboard is much cheaper.

My laptop has a great keyboard. It's easier to work long with the laptop keyboard than with any external one. (But that is because all external laptop keyboards that I have encountered so far are bad ones.)

Compaqs, Acers, Packard Bells, HPs, etc... all come with awful keyboards. IBM has the best, Toshiba and the more expensive Dells come second. All IMHO, and not tested with the latest models.

Macs have keyboards that feel very good while typing but still start to hurt sooner than I'm used to. I have no idea how this is possible.

is this RSI?

Zed on 2004-09-27T16:57:43

Yes, it's RSI. It's your body's way of saying you need to be doing some things differently. Here's an article I wrote on it.

And you can't win an argument with your body, 'cause it holds all the trump cards. You can say "but I only have a laptop"... and it can up the pain. You can say "but I can't fit a full-size keyboard in my bag"... and it can up the pain.

BTW, a laptop's small keyboard is probably only part of the issue. Most people end up using a laptop in a hunched-over position with their head hanging down to look at the screen that's way below eye-level. If you pursue the full-size auxiliary keyboard route, look into getting one of those frames that elevate a laptop's screen to a reasonable level (or stack it on top of books or something...) You'll need an alternative pointing device if you do this, too, of course.

But I like to stress that while ergonomic equipment is much better than unergonomic equipment, you can get injured with either if you're using them badly. Good posture and taking breaks are key, and no equipment can keep you safe if you hunch over it for hours at a time.

(I spent months in non-stop pain from RSI, so I tend to jump up and down at people developing its symptoms in the hopes they'll take it seriously and change things.)

I think so too.

htoug on 2004-09-27T21:40:36

It sounds as if your body is giving you the first warning.

Heed the warning and take care of your wrists (and elbows).

A program like WorkRave (http://www.workrave.org/) that prompts you to take breaks from all that typing could be of help to you. I find that my arm hurts much less after I installed that "damned bit of nagware", that gets me to hold 30 seconds pause every 5 minutes. Give it a try, it might help you.

RSI

TorgoX on 2004-09-27T22:04:32

I avoided certain RSI-disaster a few years ago by switching to Dvorak and a split keyboard. It was like learning to type all over again, except this time I did it right.

Wow...

cog on 2004-09-28T09:15:49

I'm getting very interesting advices here... I'm glad I brought the subject up :-)

So far, I guess I'll be making some pauses, try to change to Dvorak to see how it goes, maybe get a bigger keyboard at home and another at work, and probably also start using the caps lock as an extra control key (I don't use caps lock anyway...)

Let's see... what else am I forgetting?

Re:Wow...

Zed on 2004-09-28T16:35:27

Reconfigure all your software so you don't need so many key-chords. Why're you hitting control so much?

And, again, get up and stretch regularly.

Re:Wow...

cog on 2004-09-28T16:52:57

I'm using a lot of recursive search, lately... :-| In order to find commands I have already used in the past, I'm hitting C-R a lot... :-|