DevTyping: How I Built a Tool to Improve My Coding Speed
Have you ever noticed how some developers seem to type code effortlessly, while others (like me) spend precious minutes hunting for symbols on the keyboard? That was me a few months ago—decent at problem-solving but frustratingly slow at actually writing the code.
The Problem
Most typing practice sites focus on regular English text, which is great if you're writing essays, but programming involves a completely different set of muscle memories. Typing function calculateTotal() { is nothing like typing "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."
I tried some coding-focused typing sites, but I kept running into the same issue: I couldn't practice with my own code. I wanted to reinforce the patterns I use daily, not generic algorithms I'd rarely implement.
The Solution: DevTyping
That's why I created DevTyping—a simple, lightweight React application that lets developers practice typing code snippets, including their own uploads.
The concept is straightforward:
Choose a programming language (currently Python or JavaScript)
Select a pre-loaded snippet or upload your own code file
Start typing and get real-time feedback
Track your speed (WPM) and accuracy
I built this with React 19.0.0 and styled it with clean CSS (no frameworks). The app features dark/light mode, real-time error detection, and even encouraging emojis that change based on your typing speed! 🚀
What I Learned
Building DevTyping taught me a lot about:
React's latest features (the project uses React 19)
Creating custom hooks for complex state management
Building an intuitive typing interface with real-time feedback
Handling file uploads and text processing in the browser
But most importantly, I've already seen improvements in my typing speed! After just a few days of practicing with snippets from my current projects, my coding speed has increased by about 5 WPM. It's not a dramatic change yet, but I'm definitely making progress since I only built this app recently.
Try It Yourself
The project is open-source and available on GitHub. You can either:
Clone the repository and run it locally
Try the live demo at devtyping.example.com
I'm planning to add more languages and features in the future, so feedback is always welcome!
Have you built any tools to solve your own development problems? I'd love to hear about your projects in the comments.
Happy coding (and typing)! ⌨️