If you have been wondering whether it is worth your while to learn the keyboard shortcuts on your favorite IDE*, then here's another reason apart from the obvious one of blazing fast productivity.
I often teach a course on Object Oriented Programming and Design Patterns called the Object Bootcamp. The participants are typically other developers. I'm yet to see two developers who will not disagree about at least one aspect of Object Oriented Programming. Given that the course advocates a particular style of OO which would surprise the average programmer, getting the audience to listen is crucial.
Thankfully, the course is very hands on - it involves getting the participants to write some code to solve a problem and then critiquing** their code. I also normally refactor the code that I'm critiquing. Navigating the code and refactoring, both afford excellent opportunities to show off my skills with the IDE. Being able to select a block of code, do a Ctl+Alt+M and have IntelliJ Idea or ReSharper extract that block into a well-named method, as well as highlight and replace other similar code in the file, usually impresses other developers no end. Even simpler features like hitting Ctrl+B to get to the definition of the class or method are often quite alien to most developers. It makes you, in their eyes, a person who knows where his/her towel is and hence they are more amenable to letting you have your say.
The opportunities to impress others with your keyboard shortcuts are legion. Maybe you are giving a presentation to an audience which involves showing some code. Maybe you are interviewing for a company like my employer ThoughtWorks which invites you to pair program with one of your future colleagues as part of the hiring process. Maybe you are collaborating with your boss on creating a Word doc. In each of these situations, knowing and using keyboard shortcuts can give you that aura of competence - at least for a while.
What has your experience been with keyboard shortcuts? Have you seen others react differently to people who use keyboard shortcuts?
I often teach a course on Object Oriented Programming and Design Patterns called the Object Bootcamp. The participants are typically other developers. I'm yet to see two developers who will not disagree about at least one aspect of Object Oriented Programming. Given that the course advocates a particular style of OO which would surprise the average programmer, getting the audience to listen is crucial.
Thankfully, the course is very hands on - it involves getting the participants to write some code to solve a problem and then critiquing** their code. I also normally refactor the code that I'm critiquing. Navigating the code and refactoring, both afford excellent opportunities to show off my skills with the IDE. Being able to select a block of code, do a Ctl+Alt+M and have IntelliJ Idea or ReSharper extract that block into a well-named method, as well as highlight and replace other similar code in the file, usually impresses other developers no end. Even simpler features like hitting Ctrl+B to get to the definition of the class or method are often quite alien to most developers. It makes you, in their eyes, a person who knows where his/her towel is and hence they are more amenable to letting you have your say.
The opportunities to impress others with your keyboard shortcuts are legion. Maybe you are giving a presentation to an audience which involves showing some code. Maybe you are interviewing for a company like my employer ThoughtWorks which invites you to pair program with one of your future colleagues as part of the hiring process. Maybe you are collaborating with your boss on creating a Word doc. In each of these situations, knowing and using keyboard shortcuts can give you that aura of competence - at least for a while.
What has your experience been with keyboard shortcuts? Have you seen others react differently to people who use keyboard shortcuts?
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