How viable is it for a programmer to switch to a DVORAK keyboard layout?
StudyAnimal: I used it for about 3 years, and it sped me up greatly when writing text, as in large blocks of English language text, it didn't help with programming at all. However before that I was only ever a 5 finger Qwerty typist, the speed gain from Dvorak came from forcing me to touch type properly.2 things made me abandon dvorak and switch back to qwerty. Keyboard shortcuts. I never got the hang of mentally mapping between individual keys, so I when I had to push a Ctrl-X for example, I would have to stop and think for too long trying to work out which one X is.The other thing was pair programming, was a pain switching back and forth when grabbing and relinquishing the keyboard. Sometimes pair programming meets enough resistance as it is without my stupid keyboard layout adding to it.Another bonus, is that with qwerty you can work single handed, and e.g. hold the baby or eat or use the mouse or whatever.So right now I am back to my 5 finger qwerty, its slower for example for things like this message, but the bulk of what I do is just typing in little bits of text and source code here and there so the speed loss is acceptable.If I were typing in large blocks of English text for a living I would switch back to dvorak, but for a programmer qwerty is better.Actually, if you are one of those programmers that use the mouse to use menu items, and never use shortcuts, you might be ok with dvorak.