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#dasher#informationtheory#textentry

Dasher: information-efficient text entry

Google TechTalks

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  • Recommended by 2 people: 2 on Hacker News.
  • A classic. People kept recommending it from 2016 to 2025.
  • Presented by David MacKay

Intermediate. Assumes working knowledge.

7K views19 years ago2 recommendations

Computer scienceSoftware designComputation and complexityMath for programmers

David MacKay presents Dasher, a gesture-driven text-entry system designed around information theory and language models for efficient writing.

Google Tech Talks April 19, 2007 ABSTRACT Keyboards are inefficient for two reasons: they do not exploit the redundancy in normal language; and they waste the fine analogue capabilities of the user's motor system (fingers and eyes, for example). I describe a system intended to rectify both these inefficiencies. Dasher is a text-entry system in which a language model plays an integral role, and it's driven by continuous gestures. Users can achieve single-finger writing speeds of 35 words per minute and hands-free writing speeds of 25 words per minute. Dasher is free software, and it works in all languages, and on many platforms. Dasher is part of Debian, and there's even a little java version for...

Why it's here

2 people recommend this

What people say. Recommended as a brilliant application of information theory to user interface design, especially for assistive technology.

DonHopkinson Hacker News • Recommends

On “Pie Menus: A 30-Year Retrospective: Take a Look and Feel Free”

Dasher is fantastic, because it's based on rock solid information theory, designed by the late David MacKay. Here is the seminal Google Tech Talk about it: link to this video Here is a demo of using Dasher by an engineer at Google, Ada Majorek, who has ALS and uses Dasher and a Headmouse to program: link Another one of her demonstrating Dasher: Ada Majorek Introduction - CSUN Dasher link Here’s a more recent presentation about it, that tells all about the latest open source release of Dasher 5: Dasher - CSUN 2016 - Ada Majorek and Raquel Romano link Here's the github repo: Dasher Version 4.11 link >Dasher is a zooming predictive text entry system, designed for situations where keyboard input is…
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DonHopkinson Hacker News • Recommends

On “AI is currently just glorified compression”

…allocate more shelf space to the more probably letters. link link link DonHopkins on May 18, 2018 | parent | context | favorite | on: Pie Menus: A 30-Year Retrospective: Take a Look an... Dasher is fantastic, because it's based on rock solid information theory, designed by the late David MacKay. Here is the seminal Google Tech Talk about it: link to this video Here is a demo of using Dasher by an engineer at Google, Ada Majorek, who has ALS and uses Dasher and a Headmouse to program: link Another one of her demonstrating Dasher: Ada Majorek Introduction - CSUN Dasher link Here’s a more recent presentation about it, that tells all about the latest open source release of Dasher 5: Dasher - CSUN…
View on Hacker News

devilsenigmaon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Dasher: Writing text really fast without typing or speaking”

This is really awesome. It looks hard, but it isn't. Here's a talk from 2007 that explains it well link to this video
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DonHopkinson Hacker News • Recommends

On “Ask HN: Options for One-Handed Typing”

…her built into every operating system and mobile phone? link link link DonHopkins on May 18, 2018 | parent | context | favorite | on: Pie Menus: A 30-Year Retrospective: Take a Look an... Dasher is fantastic, because it's based on rock solid information theory, designed by the late David MacKay. Here is the seminal Google Tech Talk about it: link to this video Here is a demo of using Dasher by an engineer at Google, Ada Majorek, who has ALS and uses Dasher and a Headmouse to program: link Another one of her demonstrating Dasher: Ada Majorek Introduction - CSUN Dasher link Here’s a more recent presentation about it, that tells all about the latest open source release of Dasher 5: Dasher - CSUN…
View on Hacker News

devilsenigmaon Hacker News • Mentions

On “Dasher: Writing text really fast without typing or speaking”

People seem to pick up Dasher pick up pretty quickly link and the demo makes it seem much easier than it is link to this video
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DonHopkinson Hacker News • Mentions

On “Neural implant lets paralyzed person type by imagining writing”

I'd love a neural interface to Dasher, which adaptively learns as you use it which letter combinations are the most popular, and adjusts over time to make it easier and faster to input common text. It would be wonderful integrated with a context and language sensitive IDE. link link link >To make the interface efficient, we use the predictions of a language model to determine how much of the world is devoted to each piece of text. Probable pieces of text are given more space, so they are quick and easy to select. Improbable pieces of text (for example, text with spelling mistakes) are given less space, so they are harder to write. The language model learns all the time: if you use a no…
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toshon Hacker News • Mentions

On “Dasher: Information-efficient text entry (2007) [video]”

minute 32: breathing as one-dimensional input method (!): link to this video current version of Dasher in the browser: link
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