What are the most convenient keyboard/keyboard layout for programming? I do a bit of Objective-C, Matlab and Python, and start to get tired of the keyboard I use (AZERTY). It is far from being optimal as one need to press ALT+SHIFT+( to get [ for example. I think of buying a new keyboard for programming and QWERTY keyboards seem to be an obvious choice (my guess is that these language/environment were developed with such keyboards). 

Which keyboard/keyboard layout allow a direct access to programming keys, such as [, { or | for example?
Most people use QWERTY, just because it is the most popular, but if you’re learning a new layout anyway you might want to try Dvorak.

If you don’t want to learn another alphabetic layout, you can use a tool like Ukelele to make a better programming layout for the special characters while still keeping AZERTY for the rest of the keys.