I can think of one instance in which braille would be very useful for programming. If you had to rewrite spaghetti code in order to maintain it later. Relatedness would be a larger help in that situation than in black box structured programming.On Sat, 3 May 2003, Adam Myrow wrote: > Date: Sat, 3 May 2003 16:01:30 -0500 (CDT) > From: Adam Myrow <amyrow at midsouth.rr.com> > Reply-To: speakup at braille.uwo.ca > To: speakup at braille.uwo.ca > Subject: Re: Unpopularity of Linux notetakers > > On Sat, 3 May 2003, Igor Gueths wrote: > > > And in terms of programming, she tried to tell me that I needed a > > braille display? And I kept telling her that I could read C just fine > > with speech. I am sure that people like Kirk, Adam, and Chuck can agree > > with me on this. Braille is not required to read code. However, setting > > your punctuation level to all is required. > > Well, I used to say that a Braille display was a frivolous luxury until I > actually got one. The more you use one, the more you appreciate it for > both programming and editing complex configuration files. This is > especially true when you want to change something in the middle of the > line. Say you have a line in your /etc/rc.d/rc.local file that says "echo > 4 >/proc/speakup/toone." To correct the typing error and remove that > extra "o" in tone with speech requires you to type several keystrokes to > get to it and delete it no matter how good you are at moving by words and > characters. With Braille routing on a Braille display, all I have to do > is run my hand across the display until I am at that extra "o" and press > the routing button above it and delete it with "x" in vi or control-D in > pico or emacs. So, while it is possible to program without a Braille > display, and many do it, it is very nice to have once you start using one. > I guess it's similar to having a dial-up connection to the Internet and > then getting a good high-speed link. Once you have it, it's very hard to > do without it. I almost never set my punctuation to a higher level since I > use the Braille display to determine how the line is punctuated. > > One more note about Braille displays and then I'll shut up. I can play an > ASCII-based game of Checkers against the computer since it uses a > lowercase b for the black pieces, a lowercase w for the white ones, and > makes them uppercase when they become kings. I'd hate to do that with > speech! > > > > _______________________________________________ > Speakup mailing list > Speakup at braille.uwo.ca > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup >
