How hard is it to learn programming on a 60% keyboard (without QMK/VIA)?

[Mahbub]

Hello, I am 30 and I want to start learning python. I have a Royal Kludge RK 61 keyboard, it does not have QMK/VIA. At this time I really dont have the money to be able to buy a keyboard. I am curious to know how hard will it be for me to learn coding with a 60% keyboard which does not have QMK/VIA? Will it be impossible? Hard? If yes how much trouble will it be?

[LAwLz]

I don't see why it would be hard at all.

Did you write this post on your keyboard?

If you can type on your keyboard then you can program. 

[Jurrunio]

I mean your keyboard seems to have every button you need already. I don't like the only Fn key on the right because my right hand is controlling my mouse, suppose it's a keyboard for lefties? But if you're fine with it, it's not a problem.

 

QMK/VIA is just key mapping to the max, it's not necessary for programming.

[Mahbub]

6 minutes ago, LAwLz said:

I don't see why it would be hard at all.

Did you write this post on your keyboard?

If you can type on your keyboard then you can program. 

I dont know, some are saying its impossible, very hard, without qmk via on a 60.. and its making me nervous

[RasOls89]

6 minutes ago, Mahbub said:

I dont know, some are saying its impossible, very hard, without qmk via on a 60.. and its making me nervous

 

There are python IDEs for mobile (Pydroid 3) so as long as you have every key needed it should be fine. Then maybe once you have been programming for some time you can buy a new special keyboard if you would like it.

Programming is more then just writing code and a big part of it is problem solving and is not done on your keyboard.

[LAwLz]

4 minutes ago, Mahbub said:

I dont know, some are saying its impossible, very hard, without qmk via on a 60.. and its making me nervous

I think those people are joking with you.

What makes you think you couldn't program on that keyboard? Programming is just typing. The only difference between typing this forum post and programming is that you will need to use some special characters like ( ) more than in typical typing, but that's it.

[Bananasplit_00]

29 minutes ago, Mahbub said:

I dont know, some are saying its impossible, very hard, without qmk via on a 60.. and its making me nervous

That sounds misinformed and weird

 

I mean QMK is very nice to have but if you can type all the letters and numbers and brackets you are good. Especially for python, it's famously not weird character soup

[goatedpenguin]

“Mom I need a 80% mechanical keyboard with lubed blue switches to code in python.”

 

Dude if you can type on that keyboard normally your good to go.

[whispous]

I hve 30% keybord nd i get long just fine

[mariushm]

4 hours ago, Mahbub said:

Hello, I am 30 and I want to start learning python. I have a Royal Kludge RK 61 keyboard, it does not have QMK/VIA. At this time I really dont have the money to be able to buy a keyboard. I am curious to know how hard will it be for me to learn coding with a 60% keyboard which does not have QMK/VIA? Will it be impossible? Hard? If yes how much trouble will it be?

A keyboard is as cheap as 10$ (even less if you include shitty aliexpress ones) ... you don't need a fancy 100$ keyboard to type text and learn programming. Give me a break. 

 

Even this 13$ Logitech one would be perfectly fine : https://www.newegg.com/logitech-k120-920-002478-usb-wired/p/N82E16823126096?Item=N82E16823126096&SoldByNewegg=1

 

 

 

[Franck]

It does have pretty much all you need at very very basic level.

 

Although if you plan to code a lot reducing weird hand posture like all FN + XYZ on that keyboard would be great. I would get a full keyboard. I have arthritis and work 9-10 hours a day, 5 days a week professionally as a dev for past 25+ years and for the last 8-10 years i have a stack of Logitech K120. Low noise, great dome feel, full keyboard and very very cheap. I even have 2 at home that i switch my mechanical with when coding. At 18$ CAD (13$ usd) it's a very very solid keyboard. They usually last me 4 years full time (around 10k hours)

[wasab]

Veteran programers perfer split keyboard over qwerty and qwerty is not designed to be comfortable to type with to begin with. It is layout that way because early typewriter had a tendency to get keys stuck and laying out letter like that made it less likely, this problem doesn't exist on modern keyboard but the layout got carried over because existing typists did not want to retrain their muscle memory for a new layout. 

[Dat Guy]

Why does anyone even buy a special keyboard if they're afraid it can't be used for a certain task?

 

18 hours ago, wasab said:

Veteran programers perfer split keyboard

 

We don't.

[wasab]

6 hours ago, Dat Guy said:

Why does anyone even buy a special keyboard if they're afraid it can't be used for a certain task?

 

 

We don't.

*veteran veteran* programmers

[rikitikitavi]

@Mahbub, you can start your programming career on a crappy 10yo+ tiny laptop with a bare minimum performance to run needed software suite (like a browser and a terminal), a screen that has enough brightness and contrast not to strain your eyes too much and of course a keyboard that... works.

Technically, this monstrosity might be enough to last you your whole career... with a few caveats lol

It is like saying that you need a nice personal car to go to the nearby grocery store - sure it might be comfortable and fast... but it is not necessary.

 

A better kb is for your health and efficiency:

1. a split/ergonomic keyboard will help with possible posture problems and forearm strain.
2. a custom layout will help you be more efficient and might help with some strain by making you stay on the home row longer (ASDF-JKL;), by having a more efficient layout than QWERTY, implementing more layers (standard kb has 2 -> regular and SHIFT'ed). It also helps to be less reliant on your mouse/touchpad.

#1 can be (somewhat) addressed by good habits and active lifestyle, while #2 can be (somewhat) addressed by using key-mapping software (Karabiner-Elements if macOS), window manager (i3 if Linux-distro), and any editor that does not require a mouse (like Vim, Emacs or any other editor like VSCode that supports Vi-style bindings).

 

EDIT :

 

The most 'veteran' and the most pro programmers I've ever known cared more about a better and bigger monitor than anything else, and all of them used an 'average' kb with QWERTY with a couple of fellas using a classical ergonomic from Microsoft.

[Avocado Diaboli]

8 hours ago, wasab said:

*veteran veteran* programmers

My dad has been a programmer for over 40 years, so he's a veteran by any metric. He never cared about keyboards. He always used cheap membrane keyboards at home and whatever his employers handed out at work by default and these days he uses whatever laptop he has (no, he also doesn't particularly care about specs either) and just types on the built-in keyboard.