Why? Isn't the distinction somewhat arbitrary? A lattice or scaffold is indistinguishable from a crysralling structure only due to it's scale, but when a large, rigid ststructure is built it functions on a larger scale as a sort of material.
It’s more complicated than that I think. You don’t spend much time typing, but how much does the time you spend (and the cognitive load of) typing deconstruct the mental architecture you’ve created to solve a problem?
This is at the core of why vim/others are still so popular. The micro-gains in typing efficiency translate to much more efficient problem solving because you don’t “lose your place” within your mental process. I think the same would extend to cursorless.
I find typing can be helpful. I think more about certain aspects of the problem as I type, so I often discover edge cases I hadn't thought about or potential performance pitfalls.
I guess it's a bit like navigating using only the map in the war room vs navigating on the ground without a map. The ideal route comes through a combination of both, and typing allows for the latter point of view.
Though after typing for a while, I'll take a step back and think about the overall solution again, going over it in my mind. Then back to typing.
TDD is bad because it introduces distracting busywork. The actual typing isn't the actual problem.
In terms of just typing, I could probably produce something like 50,000 lines of code in a 40 hour work week in a moderately verbose programming language. In practice I'll probably crank out somewhere between 1000-5000.
It's the thinking that is slow. It's made even slower by adding additional tasks and context switching.
I admit this a weird edge case, but a few years ago I fractured my left elbow and could only use one hand. When typing one handed, typing speed was a bottleneck.
Maybe there is a big opportunity for a startup, that will revolutionize hiring.