Most keyboard reviews are about gaming. Can any of you recommend a good keyboard for coding/programming?
Here’s some criteria for selecting the keyboard:
- Comfortable keys, easy to click and write coding quickly
- Must be a bluetooth keyboard
- Prefer using replaceable batteries instead of charging port
- Full keyboard keys including function keys, arrow keys and numpad
- Size can be compact or full-sized
- Doesn’t matter if back-lit or not
- Doesn’t matter if loud or quiet clicks
- Budget around USD 50
I use a Tokonami KX450, which is not the newest but it’s the most widely available military-grade model that the average silicon shop is able to customise.
With that in mind you’ll want a uranium microreactor to really get that turbo button cranking out the keycodes (the french stuff is cheapest but ukrainian kit is worth the extra), as well as a mercury cooling solution and ideally a set of maglev keys for all the most common letters (NOT backspace; frankly you should remove that key entirely to avoid habits that damage your WPM).
Assuming you’ve got a solid pair of high-torque power gloves that should get you up to at least 20000 WPM, which admittedly won’t cut it if you’re trying to keep all the NPM dependencies up to date in a modern bank’s transaction processing software, but it’s probably enough if you’re just doing a bit of data analysis in python.
Make sure to buy one with a dedicated button for each letter you want to use. Really, I would recommend something QWERTY just for standard compatibility.
Scarastic jokes over, it literally doesn’t matter at all. Just look online for the cheapest keyboard with the features you want. Type on a cellphone touchscreen keyboard if you are so inclined. If you are typing so much that it really starts to hurt your finger joints or muscles, then you can maybe start to look at ergonomic keyboards and see if they’d be right for you. Beyond that, your time is better spent actually coding than worrying about the proper type of keyboard to use.
Counterpoint, the only way you’ll be able to write efficient and clean code, that’s both terse and readable, that earns the respect of influencers and CTOs alike, is with the Happy Hacking Keyboard, Type S. It’s $300, but you’re serious about coding, aren’t you? And you’ll need some after market keycaps; the stock ones are decent – dye sub PBT – but you’ll look like a noob, you’ll need to get a few sets of colorful blanks and create a pattern from them that defines your coding aesthetic. You have a color scheme that defines your coding aesthetic, right? If not, you need to take care of that, before you even write a single line of code.
I’m just kidding, literally anything. I don’t even use one, I just use a mouse, since I’m just copying and pasting from chatGPT anyway – or, I used to, back when I was a junior dev. Now I just use a magnetic needle and a steady hand
Budget’s about half what it should be, but Keychron makes really great mech keyboards, you can pick a range of switches (I use Gateron Red, clicky but not too stiff; YMMV).
You should reconsider bluetooth if you can, there is lag in it, and sometimes just random disconnects if there’s interference. USB’s the way to stay fast & stable.
I use the Logitech K120. It has all the right keys in all the right places and doesn’t piss around with useless “media functions” on the F-keys making those the default instead of F1-F12.
Programming is about thinking, not typing, so you really don’t need anything fancy. I’ve tried a couple of gaming keyboards only to find they’re flaky af and ended up in the WEEE bin far too quickly for their price.
It doesn’t meet your requirements of being wireless and Bluetooth though, but on the other hand it doesn’t have stupid lights all over it and doesn’t randomly stop working just because I forgot to plug it in so there’s that.
I use a single key and morse code
