I have been mouseless for over 30 years. (The office being the exception but I still use it minimally.)
The issue is not speed, it's control. Precision, if you will. I can automate repeated tasks with the keyboard. Doing that with the mouse is beyond awkward; it's counterintuitive.
Mouse is for interaction. Keyboard is for automation.
(Obviously for some tasks, e.g., ones involving graphics, we need a mouse.)
Is automation faster than interaction. You tell me. Try doing everything your computer does by hand. I will give you $50 million for your efforts. Then report back with your discoveries.
Generally no one (seriously) programs a computer exclusively with a mouse. A keyboard is used. Surely, there must be a reason for this.
Of course, the "tech" company model of the world needs users to not be programmers. The mouse is taken as a signal "we have a human on the line". Automation is taken as a signal "it's a bot". Truly, the only significant difference between the two is that it is far more difficult to manipulate, analyse and serve ads to "bots" and charge advertisers money for it. Users who can program the computer to automate tasks can escape online advertising and tracking in ways that others cannot.
One of the most brilliant programmers I worked with had a 14-button mouse. It had cut/copy/paste/select all/etc all on his mouse. He hated typing and actually couldn't touch type. He would always look for code online he could just copy/paste with minimal modification. I thought he was out of his mind but the dude produced amazing results and I think to this day I've still learned more from him about programming than I have from any of the other amazing people I've worked with.
I love to think keyboard is king, but none of this matters—it's whatever floats your boat.
If someone designs a system for input where I can only use a mouse, for me thats a boat sinker. Not that I love keyboards, it's just they are better than anything else I have found.
> Sounds almost like a mini-keyboard that slides around on a pad. :)
...except that it was a one-to-one mapping of function to button kinda deal. He didn't have time for fancy things like key-combos!
Yeah, who knows what programming will look like in the future. I'm a huge stay-on-the-keyboard snob but also, I have `set mouse=a` in my vimrc because often I want to hold a drink in one hand scroll through code with another. Shoot-me-why-don't-ya!?? And heck, sometimes it's just that my right hand was already on my mouse to use a macOS feature and now now my left hand cmd-tabbed me back to vim. It's all about laziness, right? My right hand does quickly find itself back on the home row in the latter situation, of course.
Software / on screen virtual keyboards are a thing. You probably use one everyday if you have a smart phone. The same thing is available on your laptop / desktop as well, though not quite so convenient without t9 or swipe-typing.
The issue is not speed, it's control. Precision, if you will. I can automate repeated tasks with the keyboard. Doing that with the mouse is beyond awkward; it's counterintuitive.
Mouse is for interaction. Keyboard is for automation.
(Obviously for some tasks, e.g., ones involving graphics, we need a mouse.)
Is automation faster than interaction. You tell me. Try doing everything your computer does by hand. I will give you $50 million for your efforts. Then report back with your discoveries.
Generally no one (seriously) programs a computer exclusively with a mouse. A keyboard is used. Surely, there must be a reason for this.
Of course, the "tech" company model of the world needs users to not be programmers. The mouse is taken as a signal "we have a human on the line". Automation is taken as a signal "it's a bot". Truly, the only significant difference between the two is that it is far more difficult to manipulate, analyse and serve ads to "bots" and charge advertisers money for it. Users who can program the computer to automate tasks can escape online advertising and tracking in ways that others cannot.