Software Lets Programmers Code Hands-free 261
Posted
by
CowboyNeal
from the look-ma-no-keys dept.
from the look-ma-no-keys dept.
Yetihehe writes "New Scientist is reporting about a new speech recognition tool that promises to let programmers write clean code without ever having to lay a finger on their keyboard. 'The tool, called VoiceCode, has been developed to help programmers with repetitive strain injury (RSI). This is a common affliction for people who spend a lot of time using a keyboard or mouse and causes pain in muscles, tendons and nerves in a sufferer's arms and back. Some estimates suggest 22% of all US computer programmers, or 100,000 people, suffer from the condition.'"
Repetitive Strain Injury (Score:5, Insightful)
Many people thought obesity is caused by junk food, but in reality is caused by having too much junk food.
So the best way to prevent RSI is to work out a reasonable and healthy work schedule that prevents such excessive usage.
Re:Repetitive Strain Injury (Score:2)
Sure, your productivity is going to drop, but I don't think that's something your boss could fire you over, since they agreed to this accomodation.
Re:Repetitive Strain Injury (Score:2, Insightful)
Personally, I think it's still better off even to have reduced work-hours and reduced productivity, than having to stay in front of the mic all day.
Re:Repetitive Strain Injury (Score:3, Informative)
I can also personally confirm these claims. I worked in a bus factory for a couple summers and my hands would continually go to sleep at night after my 9 hours at the factory. Yet I have never had a problem from coding, even with weeks of 11-12 hour days.
Also, beyond all the other problems people have pointed out with using speech as input, it also interferes with
Re:Repetitive Strain Injury (Score:3, Informative)
I have occasional problems with RSI in my hands and wrists, but I do not have the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome. I found squeezing on one of those squeezie balls you can pick up at the sports store helps, as does varying the position of my hands (and using different pointing devices), and especially, not playing games too long at any time. In my experience, that's the worst cause of problems for me.
Still even though my hands work fine, I'd love to ch
Re:Repetitive Strain Injury (Score:3, Insightful)
And where am I going to find a job that lets me work 2 days a week, 4 hours a day, and still pays me enough to cover the mortgage?
Re:Repetitive Strain Injury (Score:3, Funny)
print "then\n";
So fooey on you. Perl can use 'then'
#define then else
So fooey on you. C(++) can use 'then' too
-nB
Re:Repetitive Strain Injury (Score:3, Funny)
#define then <
#define than >
#define maybe(x, y) {if(x then -x) y;}
#define minusmaybe(x,y) {if (x than -x) y;}
#define perhaps(x, y) maybe(y, x)
#define possibly(x, y, z) maybe(x, y) z;
#define unlikely(x, y, z) {x; perhaps(z, y)}
#define quantum(x,y,z) {while(y) {perhaps(y,x) minusmaybe(x,y)}}
Re:Repetitive Strain Injury (Score:2)
-nB
Re:Repetitive Strain Injury (Score:2)
Re:Repetitive Strain Injury (Score:2)
Re:Repetitive Strain Injury (Score:2)
Re:Why do One code? (Score:2)
Not _Exactly_ Hands Free (Score:2, Funny)
Nothing to see here, please move along.
Re:Not _Exactly_ Hands Free (Score:5, Funny)
Voice recognition software: Welcome to Naughty Wibbling Dot Com!
Mike: Close browser, close browser, close browser, close browser, close browser, close browser,
Re:Not _Exactly_ Hands Free (Score:2)
Re:Not _Exactly_ Hands Free (Score:2)
Well, it was hard, anyway. Really hard. Hard as steel.
Alright! (Score:5, Funny)
All talk. Little action. (Score:5, Insightful)
And now vocal cords. Now imagine this sytem in say a team environment. Everyone talking at once.
Re:All talk. Little action. (Score:2)
"Computer, create a database with all the wormhole related incidents in the Gamma quadrant, running back 200 years. Cross-reference with all known facts on the Bajoran wormhole."
"Requested processing will take aproximately two hours."
"Results are ready. One incident found. Stardate
Re:All talk. Little action. (Score:2)
Complexity, predictability (Score:2)
Voice recognition is all fun and dandy- it can look at where you are in a sentence, and narrow down it's choice. It has a list of words to choose from that it can narrow down based on soundex and other phoentetic algorithms. It will 'guess' at the closest match on a noun that sounds like 'fox'... maybe 'box'... Nah- the box wouldn't jump over the lazy dog, so the fox it is.
Prog
Escape mode (Score:2)
New hot off the press: VIM - Voice Improved!
Re:Escape mode (Score:5, Funny)
Tha's gonna hurt!
Re:Escape mode (Score:2)
Friggin' "backslash" x 4 is a tongue twister. I can't even do it efficiently.
-- n
Really bad idea. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Really bad idea. (Score:2)
Re:Really bad idea. (Score:5, Funny)
AHEM, sir! (Score:3, Funny)
I would like it if you did not use the term "has trouble typing," sir--and make such faulty assumptions about us. I prefer "typographically-challenged," thank you very much.
failed compile (Score:5, Funny)
int dummy;
double buffer[ Hey, Smith, what, are; you doing there;
damn(it)->im.busy_coding.here;
}
E443 2:12 syntax error after [
Is actually for... (Score:5, Funny)
Would finally mean that people learn the difference between brackets, braces, and parenthesis\
For, four, fore! (Score:5, Funny)
FOR X = 2 to 2
"Erase word, erase word, erase word"
FOR X =
"Twentytwo to"
FOR X = 222
"Erase word"
FOR X =
"Open parenthesis eleven times two close parenthesis"
FOR X = ((((((((((())
"Son of a.."
Re:For, four, fore! (Score:4, Interesting)
After all, the word recognition rate is limited, and as soon as you start getting away from dictionary words you run into all sorts of problems.
how do you pronounce some of the function names for php (mssql_query? or maybe a nice bit of perl code? perl golf stuff would be insane!)
It might work for languages like RUBY with loose syntax (near as I can tell it doesn't really matter what you do as long as you stick with same style for any given block of code), but i doubt C code will lend itself well to such a monstrosity.
No, in the end, until we have a programming language that reads the way people talk, this won't work. Even then there will be issues.
Now, if I could just think the structure (or even better, the results) and have it appear on the page, I would be excited about that. Of course, there are lots of times when that would be the opposite of what I wanted.
Oh well.
Re:For, four, fore! (Score:2)
Re:For, four, fore! (Score:2)
FOR X = ((((((((((())
"Son of a.."
I laughed out loud. Bravo.
Re:Why code dictation is so hard (Score:4, Funny)
And I bet it works, too. Now back to my code...
Dupe! well...not really (Score:2)
Repeatative Tongue Disorder (Score:4, Insightful)
Seriously though, I noticed that when I type, I express my thoughts in a more clear fashion than when I talk. I think this is because I am not distracted by the sound of my own voice. I can think faster than I type but not necessarily faster than I talk
Re:Repeatative Tongue Disorder (Score:5, Funny)
As much as we like to hope for "getting risky with our tongues and mouths," we're programmers; we know that's never going to happen.
Re:Repeatative Tongue Disorder (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Repeatative Tongue Disorder (Score:2)
What they really need is a program that can be written by drawing.... Oh wait, its called Labview.
Nah, I don't think they'll ever replace good ol' C++ with a vim-like editor.
RSI? (Score:2)
Reduce or eliminate RSI?
See our recent discussion how RSI is user-inflicted.
Sounds great (Score:2)
Not the way I code (Score:4, Insightful)
Could be much improved... (Score:4, Insightful)
The real trick is with symbol names; variable names, method names, class names, etc. The problem is that these are not necessarily words that will be easily adapted to spoken voice, which is made significantly worse with hungarian notation.
But if you dump hungarian notation and use descriptive variable, method and class names (which is probably a good programming practice anyway), then you can probably get by pretty well.
if? IF?!? (Score:2)
If you dump drinking a quart of gin before work every morning, the quality of your code may improve. If you dump stabbing yourself in the legs with a sharp knife, the pain in your lower extremeties may decrease.
Unfortunately, I cannot stop using hungarian notation, cannot stop the breakfast gin, and cannot stop stabbing myself...because I was never stupid enough to start!
Re:Could be much improved... (Score:2)
-WS
Re:Could be much improved... (Score:2)
I'm not saying your use of it is wrong (I don't use PERL and have no clue on its coding conventions), but may not be necessary in this da
Re:Could be much improved... (Score:2)
Eat your own dogfood (Score:5, Insightful)
22% is way too high (Score:2)
Not that it wouldn't benefit someone with really crippling RSI. I'm all for it. Just, don't tell me 1 out of every 5 programmers is going to switch to voice coding. Nonsense.
Wizard of Oz can tell you how will this works (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Wizard of Oz can tell you how will this works (Score:3, Insightful)
Acid test (Score:3, Funny)
Does it work for Perl? If so, we can say it is done.
Re:Acid test (Score:2)
#$!@a!# -$3[#!%@%#$2()$%#!@%@ #^^!!!!
this is actually a very short perl quine!
Re:Acid test (Score:2)
Huh... (Score:2)
Re:Huh... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Huh... (Score:2)
Pen/Pencil/Marker & Paper (Score:4, Insightful)
On a personal note: I've made my boss howl with laughter by informing him that I was on version 7 of the code related to one small project, but before I touched the keyboard I'd written out most of the changes on paper. It was even better when I showed him the scrap paper I'd been snagging from the recycling bins to do my design work on. I thought coffee was going to shoot out his nose; never had trouble getting a pay raise or vacation time from him since
When I mentored a couple of young co-op programmers they, at first, thought this practice was very crazy, but after they saw the benefits of having to thinking your code through while writing it out they started to follow this practice though not as drastically as I do.
Re:Pen/Pencil/Marker & Paper (Score:2)
The point is simply not to have a compiler. In fact, if you have the discipline you can do it directly in the editor - just don't touch the com
Re:Pen/Pencil/Marker & Paper (Score:2)
How $` $] brilliant (Score:5, Funny)
Try saying $|++; $@?@^W--:!s/$#_/$_/g while <>; for 3000 lines !
My throat will never recover!
Re:How $` $] brilliant (Score:2)
use English;
$OUTPUT_AUTOFLUSH++;
if ( $EVAL_ERROR ) {
$WARNING--;
} else {
# ok, can't do the last command: "Use of $# is deprecated"
}
Re:How $` $] brilliant (Score:5, Funny)
Re:How $` $] brilliant (Score:2)
Re:How $` $] brilliant (Score:2)
Bootstrap? (Score:2)
Stallman's Disease (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Stallman's Disease (Score:2)
Obligatory Picard (Score:2, Interesting)
Code Monkey Say, Code Monkey Do (Score:2)
ooh funnn (Score:3, Funny)
***Computer! Run program "Picard1"***
Won't work (Score:2)
This might work with a decent programming language (Score:5, Insightful)
Or worse, with an indecent programming language (Score:2)
Once we all have RSI, the next step is to turn us all into business-rule-encoding drones...
Re:Or worse, with an indecent programming language (Score:2)
Re:This might work with a decent programming langu (Score:2)
Now all you need to do if you suffer from RSI is to get your employer to agree to you writing everything in Haskell.
Re:This might work with a decent programming langu (Score:2)
I imagine part of the point is to not have to worry about that noise:
"if-block. Condition flag equals true. body. " etc. etc.
BrainCode is better. (Score:2, Funny)
Finally (Score:3, Funny)
Something to drown out the IM glissandos.
Will it feature programmer language? (Score:2)
Re:Will it feature programmer language? (Score:2)
Re:Will it feature programmer language? (Score:2)
There's a better way to do this (Score:2)
Re:There's a better way to do this (Score:2)
Okay, it sounds silly, and I'm basing the idea on Victor Borge's [wikipedia.org] "phonetic punctuation" skit. But if you watch the skit, you'll realize that it would probably work really well.
My dad already codes hands free.. (Score:2)
He's an amputee, he lost both arms near the elbow in an accident when he was little. He types with a pen, and sometimes his elbows on the modifier keys. He writes macros for everything to reduce the number of keystrokes, including things like getting the column list for a table and building an insert statement. Using his voice would only slow him down.
gorrilla voice (Score:2)
trash, but classy :) (Score:2)
Isn't this backwards? (Score:2)
In ten years from now we'll be building code out of virtual 3D blocks with sensory input for and from
Headsets for voice recognigion (Score:2)
Apparently they hugely affect VR performance in noisy environments.
Sure, it's good now (Score:2)
I can see this being a big hit (Score:2)
"Open-paren, open-paren, open-paren, open-paren, open-paren, open-paren, x, close-paren, close-paren, close-paren, close-paren, close-paren, close-paren
Its all about the dictionaries you use (Score:3, Informative)
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.sys.amiga.mis
Re:Identifiers (Score:2)
Re:Identifiers (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Identifiers (Score:2)
Re:Sure... RSI from "Programming" ;0) (Score:2, Informative)
Re:But why would you want to? (Score:2)
Re:english to python (Score:2)