Symbols are the hard part
Code is full of brackets, braces, quotes, semicolons and operators: the keys people look for the most. This test gives you real snippets of code, several lines long, and measures your speed in WPM and your accuracy over 60 seconds.
How the code test works
- Pick a language: JavaScript, Python, HTML, CSS, SQL, or all of them mixed.
- At the end of a line, press Enter, as you would in your editor.
- The indentation of the next line is filled in for you: there is no Tab or space to type at the start of a line, only the code itself.
- Snippets follow one another until the time is up.
Expect a lower speed than on the word test: symbols, capitals and digits are slower for everyone.
Symbols on your keyboard
On a US keyboard, square brackets sit to the right of P, braces are the same keys with Shift, and the quote is next to the semicolon. On many European keyboards, braces and brackets need AltGr, the Alt key on the right: the on-screen keyboard of the lessons shows where they are.
- Press Shift with the little finger of the other hand, as for capitals.
- Learn each symbol by touch, like a letter: a bracket you have to look for costs more than any word.
Tips for typing code faster
- Read the whole line before you start it, then type it in one go.
- Names such as
getUserName or user_id put Shift or the underscore in the middle of a word: slow down slightly on them.
- Start with the language you write every day, then try the others: each has its own symbols, like the angle brackets of HTML or the colons of Python.
- Watch the case: every character counts, and in JavaScript or Python
Name and name are two different names.
- Between symbols, bring your hands back to the home row.