Speaking in code: hands-free programming
As a developer with carpal and cubital tunnel syndrome, I&#x27;m extremely excited about the possibility of voice programming.  However my experience was that it&#x27;s somewhere between non-existent and impractical when I last tried it.<p>It was actually the inspiration for my undergraduate research which explored (scratched the surface, really) the use of Lojban[0] as an &quot;interactive metaprogramming language&quot;.  The benefits of Lojban are that it is significantly more expressive than making sounds that are mapped to vim-like commands via a hacked natural language recognition engine, is isomorphic between text and speech (you can speak mathematical expressions with precision), is phonologically and grammatically unambiguous, and is standardized&#x2F;has a community -- even if it&#x27;s a small one.<p>I still think it&#x27;s a paradigm shift and would be indescribably more efficient and powerful than traditional code exploration and editing.  And I would love to continue, but it&#x27;s such a massive project and working on something that foreign alone for long enough is really isolating because it&#x27;s hard to explain.  Lojban also has its fair share of problems for this and would need to be further standardized and scoped out for computers, so there&#x27;s really not a clear path forward in any case.<p>Regardless, for those _currently_ suffering from hand and arm issues preventing them from coding and&#x2F;or working, my advice is:<p>1) don&#x27;t panic.  Go on antidepressants and&#x2F;or see a therapist if you need to; it&#x27;s going to take a while to recover<p>2) rest as much as possible and make sure to get a lot of sleep<p>3) wear wrist braces to sleep to prevent further damage in the short term (consult a doctor and all that, you want to avoid muscle atrophy so don&#x27;t use them for too long without starting some kind of muscle strengthening program)<p>4) invest in proper tools (standing desk + ergonomic keyboard is like magic for me, I can actually type again)<p>5) gain weight if you&#x27;re on the low-side of normal weight -- this helped my cubital tunnel syndrome quite a bit by giving my ulnar nerve more protection<p>And finally, don&#x27;t give up hope; I&#x27;m able to work full time and don&#x27;t wear wrist braces to sleep at all anymore after a little over a year.<p>[0]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Lojban" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Lojban</a>