[quote name='way2lazy2care' timestamp='1338901183' post='4946426']
The majority of coding should be thinking, not typing.

Sounds waterfall-ish to me

To those who think typing isn't important, try switching to an unfamiliar keyboard layout and seeing if it doesn't have an impact on your ability to program. I firmly believe that it's important to get rid of as many brain - code barriers as possible, and being able to effectively type without thinking about it is a huge part of that. If you're having to stop every few seconds to find a key, you are not going to be as effective as someone who's use of the keyboard is almost unconscious.
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I actually do a fair amount of typing one handed when I'm at home. It's not quite the same as using a completely different keyboard, but even after a month of using a non-typical keyboard you could probably get used to it as well. It's a little more difficult, but you should know what you want to write code-wise well before your fingers even touch the keyboard.

It will take more time, but I can still type quickly with one hand (maybe 60-70% as quickly as I can with two. With two I find I get close to my limit because I start having to wait to think of the next thing I need to type, so that's why it's not 40-50%.) and I'm only typing 20-30% of the time, so that's really only a 12-21% slowdown, which isn't that big when compared to say, failblog.

I agree that removing brain-to-code barriers is a good thing for productivity, but that's what practice does -- before the first week is finished, I expect you'd be past the "hunt-and-peck" stage. Sure you won't be typing as quickly as you can two-handed, but you won't need to do much context-switching to find keys anymore.

You could also buy a one-handed chorded keyboard, or find a software implementation of one. Basically, this is a type of keying in which pressing multiple keys at the same time (or by holding/activating modifier keys first) corresponds to a certain keystroke. Many systems use a few as 5 keys, though those aren't going to give you the full 103+ keys you're probably used to.

Here's an example that's running on a tablet: http://labs.teague.com/?p=1451

I had this about 18 months ago after a hand operation.

As others have said - it's perfectly doable and it doesn't take long to get used to typing with one hand. Don't forget to look at sticky keys and other accessibility aids built into your OS.

Maybe you can get yourself a small USB trackpad about the size of a laptops trackpad and place it under your keyboard. This won't be as good as having both hands free but should allow you to have nearly the same flexibility of both keyboard/mouse without constantly having to move your keyboard hand off the keyboard, which would get tiring and also probably lead to repetitive stress injuries..

Good Luck!

-ddn

The 1950's say: You only need one arm to smack your secretary. Dictate as needed.

In all seriousness, there are keyboards and similar utilities you can use. You might also try out a speech to text utility.

As pointed out already though, the majority of development is thinking.

I like to program and I am in the google summer of code. On the day of its start i got into a car accident and broke my collar bone. My left arm (my dominant one) cannot be used for at least a month while i heal.

I am not familar with the duties involved in those kind of initiatives. My best advice would be to just wait till healing. Who knows what you might do to your nerves. I'm not a medic, I don't know.

I had extensive damages to my hands/wrists/arms. If you happen to have problems, my advice is to try a DVORAK layout. I'm not a medic but I think that won't be your case.

I don't agree with the insignificance of typing as implied by many posts.
Sure, there is much more thinking involved, than typing, But it doesn't mean there aren't hour-long or longer continuous typing sessions.
In total, typing may be much less than thinking, nevertheless, when you do need to just type for hours, then slow typing can be really annoying, even if the slowdown doesn't significantly affect the total development time.