A simple Python program which is intended for those who wish to improve their typing speed. Think of it as TypeRacer for your terminal.
Currently, only English is supported as the whole thing is written with curses.
You can train in two different modes: normal and brutal. The normal mode is just your run-of-the-mill typing game. You type the string shown to you and after you're done you're shown your typing speed and your accuracy. If you wish to continue playing, you're shown a random string again and the same thing continues to happen as long as you wish to continue playing.
On the other hand, brutal mode won't let you type another string unless you manage to type the current string with at least 98% accuracy. If fail to meet that level of accuracy, you will be shown the same string as long as you continue playing.
Needless to say, you can of course change the mode in the main menu but if you wish to improve your typing speed I really urge you to give the brutal mode a try. I found that accuracy helps you more than anything when you're trying to speed up your typing speed.
If you wish to practice the most common words in the English language, you can toggle
the MCW option in the main menu and you will be typing a random selection from the
most common words in the English language.
In the Force Game, the string that you should be typing will not be waiting for you to type at your leisure. It will scroll at a speed that you can set before starting the game and you will have no chance of seeing a word once it disappears from the screen. Great for pushing yourself. May the Force be with you! (Yeah, I'm a Star Wars geek, and I take a perverted pleasure from stuff like this.)
If you want to see how you have progressed since you have started using Imperial Typing Tutor, you can choose the graph option from the main menu and you will see your WPM and accuracy stats plotted against time.
I also plan to implement a way of seeing how you have been doing for individual strings from the database in the future.
Note that graphs require you to have matplotlib on your computer.
Imperial Typing Tutor comes with a set of quotes so you can start training right away but if in the future you find that you'd rather add your own quotes, you can do so in the main menu. Remember: Only English is supported!
Well, ever since I saw a gentlemen who could touch type on a computer when I was 9 years old, I wanted to type without looking at the keyboard. And I wanted to type fast. I don't know why I care, but I do. Getting to 130 WPM is one of my 2014 resolutions and I just wanted to write something that has everything I want.
Yes, I know. I try to get better though. Would love some help if you have some free time.
Frankly, I don't know how to unit test a curses program. I would appreciate pointers and add unit tests as I learn how. If this makes you feel better, I did spent countless hours in front of this program.
Well, the program will run without a hich if your current terminal window has a size of 24x80, which is the standard. Anything smaller is really crampy. I was thinking of having the program automatically resize the window but that has turned out to be a nightmarish experience. Kindly resize your terminal window and all will be well. Truly, this is not the size you're looking for.
If you try to resize the terminal window in the middle of a game, the program catches that event and throws you back to the menu. It is hard to repaint the window after a resize event while a game is going on, especially in the Force game. Instead of crashing, I decided that exiting the current game and returning to the menu is the better approach.
If you have a suggestion about how to approach this, I would be more than glad to hear your thoughts.
And in any case, why on Tattooine are you resizing your terminal while typing?!
Create an issue, shoot me an email, fork and submit a PR, I don't care how you get in touch but I would LOVE to hear your suggestions!
Please see the above answer.