Hey, this is Overpass Insights! My name is Eric and I make apps!
Now today, I want to tell you why I think every software developer should learn shortcut keys.
Alright, so the other day I was having a conversation with a friend and we were
talking about video editing and video production. So, you know, what kind of
tools I used to edit and how long it takes and that kind of stuff.
And I was saying that actually for me, I used Final Cut Pro but I've been - I've
done so many videos in the past that for me editing a video doesn't take that
long. I know all the shortcut keys so it's really pretty simple and she
stopped at that and she said, 'Oh, you guys with your shortcut keys!" And I was like,
"What do you mean? What do you mean you guys with your shortcut keys?" And apparently she
had recently been on a video chat with developers in her company and when she
did which was sharing her screen and when she did a right-click copy,
right-click paste, apparently there was a collective groan among the developers.
And it made me laugh because if you've ever watched somebody do right
click copy, right-click paste using the mouse, it's like watching
an old man crosses the street. It's just sort of like a (long pause) you know, part of you just
dies inside. So, I started thinking about a lot so for me I use
shortcut keys a lot. It was one of the big things when I learned an IDE, I learned
what the shortcut keys are because it makes - well, for them, the first reason
that developers use shortcut keys is it makes us more productive obviously, right?
It's faster, just use a shortcut key rather than and go find it in the menu,
or go into a solution file and opening you know like a
preview type of thing. No, it's easier just to use your shortcut keys and go
straight to there, but the secondary reason and one of the big reasons I
think that every developer should learn shortcuts, if you don't know them already,
is it helps you master your tools, right? It's really impressive the what's a
developer go you know just from you know from code file to code file from line to
line without having to scroll or use the mouse or everything like that I was in a
meeting just last week with some other developers working on a project and one
of the guys brought up his he was sharing his screen and he brought
I think it was Visual Studio and he had a resharper in it resharper such a
frames tool which is which goes on top of Visual Studio which adds loads of
productivity stuff alright so but he was just his use of the shortcut-keys and
how quickly he was going from code I mean it was impressive it was like this
guy knew his stuff and I did I didn't see his code I didn't see the end
product like the end users would never see it but as a fellow developer I was
impressed in fact I was a little bit intimidated by him he was so good at it
right a lot of it so one of my big problems at the moment is going from is
doing cross-platform development where I'm going from IDE to IDE or development
tool the development tool so going from sublime text to webstorm to Visual
Studio code to Xcode to Android studio a lot of the times the the shortcut keys
are different that kind of messes up your game and you kind of lose that in
fact sometimes I'll turn off like a PDF of shortcut keys just to have it near my
desk so that I get familiar with some of these tools and at the moment I'm trying
to use JetBrains tools because just because of the shortcut key problem but
it's like that's a bit flawed because it's actually a lot of times you you
have to leave JetBrains and go into Xcode or to go into to another tool just
to do stuff because this limit is a lot of times what it what it can do although
it's getting better all the time but the way I think of it using shortcut
keys in addition to just make any more productive it just gives you that extra
bit of confidence you are a master of that tool you use your IDE like Jimmy
Hendrix plays a guitar or or like Jamie Oliver slices onions in the kitchen.
If I was to slice onions in the kitchen, which you know, I guess I
could fill me myself doing it it's messy, it's nasty, I'm just it's slow too. It's
like just cut this onion and you know things are rolling all over the
place and I'm chasing it around, right? But you watch somebody on the cooking
show whatever it'd say (whirl sound) done, right? And that's what it's like as a software
developer, as somebody who not only can demonstrate, you are a master of
your tool. That is your core. You are bouncing the ball in your court and no
one can touch you. In addition to that, it makes you more productive and it gives
you that confidence to do what you need to do. This is one of the major reasons I
think learning the shortcut-keys, learning your IDE inside
it out is hugely important. And to be honest with you, the last time I was
fully 100% like knowledgable like of an IDE it was probably kind of might have
been Visual Basic 6. It's been a while but you know, because if they just get
more and more involved, but yeah, it's usually important. Let me know if you
disagree. Let me know how much time you spend, especially when you're learning a
new tool, how much time you spend learning those shortcut keys or
are you somebody who just you don't need them you're not that interested in,
and you're happy to just use the mouse and everything like that and to be
honest, yeah, I do use the mouse more than I wish that I would like to admit. So,
anyway, let me know what you guys think? I'd be really there but you guys
opinions are on whether or not it's important to learn shortcut keys and
that is it for today. I'll talk to you again next time!