[nfbcs] Screen Reader & Coding

[Ryan Stevens]

Hi, listers,

While using a Braille display can be a good tool for coding, we don't actually know whether Ida knows Braille. One of NFB's biggest criticisms of the state agencies is that they discourage learning Braille if you have even the slightest level of usable vision, even when they know that vision will disappear. Obviously, only Ida can tel us if she knows Braille, and I certainly hope she does, but if not, we are asking her to significantly steepen her learning curve to use a Braille display. Let's see what she says.

Take care,
Ryan Stevens


-----Original Message-----
From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of rjaquiss via nfbcs
Sent: Thursday, August 16, 2018 7:07 PM
To: 'NFB in Computer Science Mailing List'
Cc: rjaquiss
Subject: Re: [nfbcs] Screen Reader & Coding

Hello Ida:

     I use a braille display when coding or writing html. Assuming you are using a PC, you use JAWS or NVDA to control the braille display. For languages such as Python, seeing the white space is essential. There are java and c beautifiers that will accept files and format them with proper indenting. Since capital letters are used within variables, braille is essential. Most braille displays use eight dot cells.  This allows capitalized latters to occupy one cell instead of two. Hope this helps.

Regards,

Robert


-----Original Message-----
From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Ida B via nfbcs
Sent: Thursday, August 16, 2018 12:54 PM
To: nfbcs at nfbnet.org
Cc: Ida B
Subject: [nfbcs] Screen Reader & Coding

Hello Everyone,

I am new to this group, and would love some advice. I am a 21 year old university senior studying computer science. I am extremely excited to begin my career in the field. Up until now, I’ve mostly programmed with screen magnification software. However, as my vision deteriorates, I am starting to transition to screen reader software like JAWS.

How long do you think it takes for someone to become an advanced JAWS user? I feel frustrated because I feel like it takes me a long time to navigate the computer using just the keyboard and my ears. Does this frustration ever go away? Will I ever become as fast at using the computer as my sighted peers?

For those of you who code, how do you do it? Especially in languages like Python that are super finicky about things like white space or punctuation. How do you get up to speed on a large code base with many different layers of code from front-end, to the database layer? What IDE or environment do you use?

I’d appreciate any advice, wisdom, and insight.

Thank you so much,
Ida B
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