Now that I think of it, they were also really helpful for learning how to scan a wall of console text and look for the useful bits, and also realizing the value of configuring shortcuts and syntax highlighting. I see someone already had the idea of using a text adventure to learn Bash: https://gitlab.com/slackermedia/bashcrawl
I believe my touch typing speed come about with instant messaging applications such as AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, or chatting in mIRC. I felt the need to type as fast as possible to be able to stay in the conversation with many users or to keep conversation moving as naturally as speaking speed.
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