Programming

I'm italian and I'm absolutely ashamed to say that I use an italian ISO keyboard for programming. It's missing some symbols like the backtick but I can't get used to US ANSI so I just configured some macros to type the missing characters.

UK QWERTY, no trouble hitting any keys. $ is not hard to reach, | is a bit annoying since it's right next to shift, which you need to type it, but it's not too bad.

my keyboard looks like this... so... no?

and honestly it's so much nicer to program with a small keyboard. everything is exactly where you need it to be. I don't ever have to reach for a key, as they're all right there. And I can make them do literally anything I want. So many benefits of a small keyboard over a full size.

Well, technically Dvorak is a US-ANSI layout, so … no.

Pro tip for fellow yuropean devs: you can change the layout, and learn it easily.

Pro tip for fellow ISO enjoyers living in yurop: a keyboard on Amazon costs 20$. If you're using a laptop you can order one from the UK, it's mostly the same, except beware of the mental asylum layouts that move this | key to the bottom left. You can also buy a laptop from amazon.com if you filter by "global shipping". Power bricks always work with 110/220/240, the cable that goes into the plug is easily exchangeable for 10$.

Some premium brands let you choose the layout. E.g. xmg, slimbook.

Using the JIS layout. One thing I miss from ANSI is the single and double quotes on my right pinky.(on the same key) Other than that, JIS is a nice layout to do programing with.

Yes, I've been on Norwegian Dvorak since 2002 or so.

Biggest problem I've had is with keyboards and OS'es (cough 🍎) that don't support the Insert key, because (a) I cut my teeth on the DOS editor and (b) XCV are all over the place on this layout.

I will always use a proper full size keyboard if at all possible. Those 60% and whatnot are not for me (it's bad enough when they move the arrow keys).

Oh, and the languages insisting on ${} characters are a pain on any non US layout.

I'm using a sligntly modified Niro layou (in a way that makes it more ergonomic with vim). Though I might need to adjust it since lately I began feeling disproportionate strain on my right ring finger.

What are your experiences? Are there any layouts that you prefer for coding over US English? Are there any symbols that you have a hard time reaching ($ for example)?

I'm using a PT-PT ISO layout keyboard, zero issues reaching anything, works as good as your US keyboard for coding. Actually it might work better because I have a bigger "enter" key.

can’t wrap my head around how I would code on those.

Typical American trying to comprehend that people from other countries exist? :P

Think about it this way, all the EU keyboards are essentially the same as yours but tweaked to accommodate languages that have more special chars than English.

I'm pretty sure most people outside the US do that

I can't even wrap my mind around people who use 60% keyboards and use a bunch of extra function keys let alone anything more drastic

I used DVORAK for years, but went back to QUERTY mostly because it made life hard on on the rare occasion I needed to use someone else's computer.

I use the UK layout, because I am British. Why would I use the US layout?

They told me not to reinvent the wheel, so all I need to program is this:

You can adapt to a new layout pretty easily. I already did it twice due to moving to new country.

I use German QWERTZ

As a German I have to admit that the ANSI US layout is the one American standard that's superior to the European ones. That said, I still need some Umlaute and accented letters from time to time, which is why I use the EurKEY layout, which adds all of those keys back and many morek, most of them accessible without having to use a dead key.

I'm columnar-ortho now, but for standard it's ISO or bust. You can keep your shitty enter key and your overly long shift key

French keyboard azerty has easier accents, cant live without em now.

Used to have a qwerty so sometimes the muscle memory derps a little, but when I accidently change the layout Im always mildly impressed that I can remember which key is which.

I program like I learned it? I use my German QWERTZ layout. A lot of keys are different, yes, but I grew up with this layout and I'm used to it. Imagine giving me a US QWERTY layout and I would misstype every time. I even hate it when Windows swtiches my keyboard layout, even though I removed the shortcuts to it and I misstype constantly. Heck even Visual Studio switched my shortcuts and it sucked.

After some time I realized that (Game) Devs suck, because they forget that other layouts exist. Its not a big deal, but at some point I realized that the Chats on T, Y, U makes much more sense on a QWERTY Layout. Also Markdown with ` kinda sucks. For a codeblock, I need to hold shift and press the key that is left of backspace 3 times and then one space, because when I press it once, nothing happens but pressing it a second time, 2 appear. Pressing space let it appear directly. Or I type 4 and remove one.

But this it what I'm used to. And if I ever would work outside Germany, I will bring my own QWERTZ keyboard and require them to install the German Keyboard. I don't need a German UI. I have all programming related software in English, because its easier to google stuff.

I use Canadian Multilingual on a ISO-style keyboard, mostly because my main language is French and typing accents on a US keyboard is horrible.

Coding makes a hefty use of Alt ("option" on mac), but they're relatively well-placed (see the labels on the bottom-right of the keys in the pic)

My main annoyance with it is that the ANSI-style keyboard puts "ù" to the left of "1", instead of the "/" you get on that key on a ISO keyboard (where ù is between the left shift and z). You can see how annoying this would be when programming or using the command-line. And of course, Apple stores only stock MacBooks with ANSI keyboards...