Rapid-Fire Typing: Difference between revisions

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* In ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'', Dr. Ritsuko defeats an Angel turned Computer Virus through this method.
** That same episode, we see a techie [[Rapid-Fire Typing]] away, writing huge amounts of code -- and then Ritsuko comes over and does the same thing ten times as fast, '''''[[Up to Eleven|with one hand.]]'''''
* Seto Kaiba from ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]!'' often utilizes Rapid Fire Typing whenever he's operating or hacking into a computer.
** Parodied in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!: theThe Abridged Series]]'':
{{quote| '''Computer''': It looks like you're just pressing the same buttons over and over.<br />
'''Kaiba''': That's because I learned how to [[Hollywood Hacking|hack]] by watching old episodes of ''[[Star Trek (Franchise)|Star Trek]]''! }}
* Yuki the data entity humanoid interface from ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi|The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'' is shown graduating from ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tETnhTH7CnA waving the mouse around in the air]'' to this trope within the week she learns how to use a laptop computer. At top speed it's surprising she doesn't fill the keyboard buffer. Unlike other examples, what she does actually justifies her use. Windows are shown rapidly appearing and disappearing as she plays the game from a ''source code'' level (when you're just that good, who needs the GUI?).
** She also manages a method she uses when ''hacking reality'', namely to speak really, really fast. What's spoken is, for bonus marks, SQL queries, fast-forwarded and played backwards.
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** He's also able to use ''six'' keyboards at the same time, supposedly to elevate his mental state to a thousand times that of a normal person.
*** He's compiling his code so quickly..! Then I shall just have to resort to... ''[[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?|DOUBLE COMPILE]]!''
* In ''[[Ghost in Thethe Shell: Stand Alone Complex]]'', with the advent of direct neural interfaces, no one should even need a keyboard. Indeed, the main characters rarely use them. However, the android operators still dutifully punch keys on their consoles very fast. In the 1995 movie, some people have cybernetic hands designed to allow faster typing, a visually cool but creepy and inefficient device that splits one's fingers in two. The manga explains that some people are too paranoid about brainhacking to use a direct brain interface, and get the creepy hand operation to enable them to keep up with those who can just plug in directly.
** The Operator androids are occasionally seen using the "fingers split into rods" method of typing as well when they have a lot on their plate. Incidentally, the reason Section 9 uses androids typing on keyboards for command and control is to prevent hacking attempts from succeeding, since the Operators are completely stand-alone systems. Even then, it's [[Your Head Asplode|not enough to keep them safe]] in some higher level situations, [[Properly Paranoid|so maybe the paranoids have it right]]...
* In ''[[Weiss Kreuz]]'', Nagi is seen typing this way... with no hands, using telekinesis.
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== Comics ==
* Early in the run of ''[[Invincible (Comic Book)|Invincible]]'' the title character's father, an expy of [[Superman]] who's civilian identity is a novelist, notes that he has deadline for a book coming up so he'll have to buy several keyboards to burn through over the weekend.
 
 
== Fan Fic ==
* Lampshaded in ''[[Calvin and Hobbes The Series (Fanfic)|Calvin and Hobbes: The Series]]'':
{{quote| '''Socrates:''' ([[No Fourth Wall|to the audience]]) "I have [[Up to Eleven|1,200 words per minute.]]"}}
 
 
== Films ==
* Parodied, albeit on a typewriter, in [[Charlie Chaplin]]'s ''[[The Great Dictator]]''. In one scene, the eponymous character dictates a letter to his secretary. He first lets off a long stream of [[As Long Asas It Sounds Foreign|mock-German]], which the secretary records in a few keystrokes; he then follows it with a short syllable, which takes an absurdly long time to type.
* Scotty in ''[[Star Trek IV: theThe Voyage Home (Film)|Star Trek IV the Voyage Home]]'', who probably has never seen, to say nothing of used, a keyboard before in his life, quickly adapts to one and cranks out the formula to [[Applied Phlebotinum|Transparent Aluminum]] in less than a minute using a computer whose OS has horrendous support for keyboard shortcuts.
* [[Lampshade Hanging|Semi-lampshaded]] in ''[[Up in Thethe Air]]'' when Natalie was typing on her laptop on the plane. "Are you angry at your keyboard?" "I type with a purpose."
* Elliot Carver, the evil media baron from the ''[[James Bond (Filmfilm)|James Bond]]'' film ''[[Tomorrow Never Dies (Film)|Tomorrow Never Dies]]'', writes news stories, controls video-conferences and basically runs his entire empire by flailing madly at a small, hand-held computer console. This is one of the few instances where you can actually see words coming up on the screen as Elliot types, though he is still typing far too fast. Could be explained logically, in that Carver's company is also partly an evil parody of Microsoft, meaning he may have his own special "evil villain" control software that interfaces entirely through rapid fire typing.
** In ''[[Goldeneye (Film)|Goldeneye]]'', the [[Big Bad]] orders Boris Grishenko, the hacker, to perform some necessary computer work and instructs a soldier to kill him if he moves. Boris starts typing fast, then the soldier motions with his gun. Boris types faster.
*** There was an especially grievous example earlier, when Boris performs rapid fire typing with only one hand, while spinning a (grenade) pen in the other. While doing so, he never stops to correct any mistakes -- because he is that good.
**** Boris' one-handed typing is ridiculous, of course: No matter how fast one is, typing with one hand is not even close to half the speed of two - the keyboard is made for two hands.
* Stanley Jobson in ''[[Swordfish]]''. Mostly amazing in his first demonstration: he is ordered to hack into the Department of Defense in 60 seconds while at gun point, and ''receiving oral sex''.
** Amazingly, his typing in between buttons and in between rows means something to the computer he uses.
* In the [[Steven Seagal]] film ''[[Under Siege]] 2: Dark Territory'', in which the basic plot is ''[[Die Hard (Film)|Die Hard]] [[Die Hard Onon an X|on a Train]]'', the [[Big Bad]] is able to enter the password for two separate systems at the same time with one hand on each keyboard.
* Spoofed in ''[[Bruce Almighty]]''. Bruce, while typing, drinks coffee and looks other way. But in this case, Bruce has [[God]]'s powers...
** [[Fridge Logic|Answering millions of prayers/mails still should wear out the keyboard.]] But OK, he can fix that too. Plus, it's most likely a metaphorical keyboard on a metaphorical computer.
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* A particularly hilarious example shows up in the [[Whoopi Goldberg]] film ''Jumpin' Jack Flash''. Goldberg, who has just been contacted by a spy while putting in some overtime at her work terminal, engages in a friendly chat with the stranger. She rattles off a few seconds of [[Rapid-Fire Typing]] and then [[Sounding It Out|helpfully narrates]] her response: "Yo."
* Played straight in the Disney [[Sci Fi]] movie ''Earth Star Voyager''. A group of [[Space Cadet|Space Cadets]] control their space cruiser (steering, evading enemy fire, firing, etc.) only through frantic keyboard typing - no mouse, joystick, steering wheel or anything intuitive in the future, apparently...
* In ''[[Iron Man (Filmfilm)|Iron Man]] 2,'' Ivan Vanko does this to hack administrative rights to Justin Hammer's network ''while the computer is booting up.'' When Hammer expresses incredulity at this, Vanko responds with...
{{quote|-- '''Ivan Vanko:''' ''Твой софт - говно.''<br />
-- '''Justin Hammer:''' ''Excuse me?''|'''Ivan Vanko:''' ''Software's shit.''}}
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== Live-Action TV ==
* The computers in ''[[Star Trek (Franchise)|Star Trek]]'' seem to operate via a Windows-type OS of on-screen button pushing when not simply responding to verbal commands. In a subversion, there don't seem to be any keyboards or mouse function at all. Nevertheless, despite thinking that keyboards are "quaint" and not knowing what a mouse is in the [[Time Travel]]-themed fourth ''[[Star Trek IV: theThe Voyage Home (Film)|Star Trek IV the Voyage Home]]'' movie, Mr. Scott uses Rapid Fire Typing to the shock of 20th-century native observers.
** In ''[[Star Trek: First Contact (Film)|Star Trek First Contact]]'', in an attempt to stop the Borg from hacking into the ''Enterprise'''s computer, Data uses Rapid Fire Typing to improvise a highly complex encryption code on the spot and encrypt all the ship's major systems in a matter of seconds. Data's an android, though, which means his typing speed is limited mostly by how fast his fingers can physically move.
** There are ''[[Voyager]]'' episodes where the "Relativity", a [[The Federation|Federation]] <s>star</s> time ship from the 29th century, is shown, which has a kind of "beefed up" console interface which also featured some kind of fusion out of a (real-life) Trackball and a [[Hologram|Holographic Interface]].
* Crime shows do this. For example, in ''[[Criminal Minds]]'' Garcia operates half a dozen computers at once, pulling up all manner of information, all by typing.
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** Garcia is using multiple monitors, not separate computers. She is also explicitly using a custom version of Linux she designed herself as an OS, so it could just be optimized for this usage by her preference.
* Parodied on ''[[The Colbert Report]]''.
** Similarly, pawing at the keys of a calculator with his whole hand, a gag carried over from ''[[Strangers Withwith Candy]]''.
* In one of the ''Nick Burns: Your Company's Computer Guy'' sketches on ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'', all the computer usage is done through typing. It gets particularly silly when Nick explains how to do something and the actions are all in terms of what to click on, then he does it by typing. Apparently Nick Burns is so geeky he can use the mouse from the keyboard!
** You have obviously never encountered a command line purist.
* ''[[Twenty Four|24]]'' is a particularly egregious example. No-one ever seems to use a mouse.
** Considering the people actually using the computers - Chloe, for instance - are extraordinarily skilled, this isn't too far off. Many experienced techies will prefer a keyboard for some applications, because it can be quicker if you're a good typist, and many of the advanced commands are only available on a command line.
* In an episode of ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'', Carter, granted [[Super Speed]], works on a book about wormhole physics she'd wanted to write for a while, but "didn't have time to." Now, she operates so fast that her hands blur over the keyboard and she occasionally has to stop and wait for the keyboard buffer to clear out. Of course, for all we know, she ''is'' making typos and fixing them; it's just that she's operating very, very, ''very'' fast.
* Similarly, in ''[[Lois and Clark]]'', Superman once speed-tried a bunch of different passwords, whether they're dictionary words or random alphanumerics, until finding the right one. The keyboard was smoking by the end of it.
* Subverted on ''[[Whiz Kids]]'', a 1980s-vintage show about teenage hackers; the camera angle did in fact show the monitor with words appearing as fast as the Whiz Kids could type (this was done with a program that stored the desired text in memory and then displayed it one letter at a time for each keystroke; therefore, the correct text appeared regardless of whatever gibberish the actors were typing).
* Seen in at least one episode of ''[[Walker, Texas Ranger]]'', where a hacker is fighting for control of an airplane's functions. Most notable for the episode's climax, where at a command from his boss (with [[You Have Failed Me]] undertones) to kill the thrusters, he panics and practically starts ''hammering'' the thing.
* ''[[Doctor Who]]'''s "School Reunion" has kids hypnotized into doing this in order to unlock some [[MacGuffin]].
** Donna accomplishes this in the series 4 [[Grand Finale]], [[Hand Wave|hand waved]] by her claiming to be the best temp in London.
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** The Doctor does this a lot, especially in "The Eleventh Hour", where he establishes his identity by typing the ''real'' Fermat's Last Theorem and a proof for faster-than-light travel (with diagrams), and codes a computer virus on a cell phone, in about two minutes. How does he make diagrams by typing really fast?
*** He's coding the diagrams in [[La Te X]]. Or SVG.
* ''[[DextersDexter's Laboratory|Dexter]]'' can apparently only type with his index fingers ''(really fast, mind)'', but that's probably because the keyboards are far too large for his hands...
* Parodied in ''[[Seinfeld]]''. Kramer appears on an episode of ''[[Murphy Brown]]'', hammering keys haphazardly at a ridiculous rate that could never be real typing.
* A TV show based on ''[[Maniac Mansion]]'' aired in the early '90s. One of the second season episodes, "Turnernator Too", featured Tina Edison embodying this trope; it was obvious that random keys were being pressed as fast as her fingers could move.
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* Parodied in a skit on ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'', although they flat-out revealed that the actor was just typing rapid gibberish.
* ''~iCarly~''. Freddie, the resident "computer genius", does this ''all the time''. Someone hacked the iCarly website? ''Rapid typing''. Need to edit a discriminating photo? ''Rapid Typing''.
* Strangely, on ''[[Lie to Me (TV series)|Lie to Me]]'', whenever someone asks Loker to call up a picture, not only does he never need them to be more specific than "that one thing you showed me the other day", but he never uses a mouse.
* Subverted on ''[[Stargate Universe (TV)|Stargate Universe]]'', when Rush is forced to work on the {{spoiler|Lucian Alliance's Icarus gate}} program, he taps on the keyboard wildly for a few seconds and says "Alright then, I'm done." He then has to explain that he's kidding and the work will take a long time.
* Frequently employed by Bryce and Theora on ''[[Max Headroom]]'', where all the keyboards are antique typewriters and the monitors never actually display what they type.
** Amanda Pays took a typing course in order to play Theora Jones (she wasn't ''THAT'' fast ... and she wasn't just mashing keys).
* In ''[[Smallville]]'', Chloe is quite an efficient hacker... she is able to pound her fingers on random keys with such skill! (at some points its blatantly obvious that she's not typing anything at all)
* Lampshaded on ''[[Power Rangers ZEOZeo]]''. Bulk and Skull go to a computer to look up information on somebody, and Skull's fingers are ready to fly. Once he's at the computer, he starts flailing non-sensibly at the keyboard, and Bulk asks if he knows what the hell he's doing. Skull admits he doesn't know anything about computers but looks like he does, to which Bulk kicks him off and starts browsing more realistically.
 
 
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== Radio ==
* All computers on ''[[Adventures in Odyssey (Radio)|Adventures in Odyssey]]'' require [[Rapid-Fire Typing]] (the ones that aren't run by voice command anyway) -- not [[Justified Trope]] but understandable, given it's a radio show, and a keyboard generates more sound than a mouse.
** Later episodes use realistic mouse-clicks, although they're still [[Beeping Computers|a little loud]].
 
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** That last part was more because [[Lilo and Stitch|Stitch]] jumped on Donald's head, and Donald fell on the computer, and that made the computer mad.
* Hollywood typing isn't for Hollywood anymore: in ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 4'' cutscenes, despite them being movie quality CGI, and ''despite having been made by computer people'', all typing is of the clackity-clack-clack type. One particular computer has three different keyboards for added virtuoso. Still no spacebar in sight.
* Princess Peach in ''[[Paper Mario the Thousand Year Door (Video Game)|Paper Mario the Thousand Year Door]]'' whenever she types a message to e-mail Mario. Apparently she must have learned speed typing at some point.
** It's a message, not programming -- presumably she thinks about what to write while completing the [[Fetch Quest]] for permission to send it, and can simply type it straight out.
* The Flash game ''Stealth Hunter 2'' incorporates this as a gameplay mechanic. There are minigames to pick locks and hack computers, and the latter requires you to randomly type as fast as you can within the time limit.
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== [[Web Comics]] ==
* In the [[All There in the Manual|Cubi Clan Leaders mini-arc]] of [[Dan and MabsMab's Furry Adventures|DMFA]], Mink types up an assignment which is due the next day by [http://www.missmab.com/Demo/Leader02.php closing his eyes and mashing the keyboard furiously]. May be [[Truth in Television]] for some students...
 
 
== Web Original ==
* Parodied by Mausland's [http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/527115 ''Programming God''] game.
* Usually averted in ''[[Lonely Girl 15Lonelygirl15]]'', but Taylor's [[Hollywood Hacking|hacking]] seems to work this way.
* Strong Bad does this, though it is justified in that he's actually typing out what he's saying. How he's that good a typist to type at mouth speed with boxing gloves on is anyone's guess.
* In ''[[The Guild]]'', Zaboo does this on "Valkyrie"'s keyboard, far too fast to really do anything useful.
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* [[Teen Genius]] Wade on ''[[Kim Possible]]'' can do it with three keyboards. On one occasion, he entered a meditative pose just before Rapid Fire Typing.
** In "Motor Ed," Wade reveals he has a typing speed of 300 words per minute, last he checked.
* In the 90s ''[[Iron Man (Animationanimation)|Iron Man]]'' cartoon, Tony Stark occasionally typed like this... ''using only his index fingers''.
* Jeremie Belpois in ''[[Code Lyoko (Animation)|Code Lyoko]]'' types like this when anything involves the Supercomputer. It's explained/theorized that the keyboard on the main Supercomputer terminal has two Enter keys.