Question

Has anyone had success with Dragon Naturally Speaking voice recognition software when it comes to programming?

I am wondering because I think it would be a lot faster than me typing by hand, and easier on my carpol-tunnel.

I program from day to day in visual basic 6 ide, visual studio 2008 ide + team explorer, writing emails, and chatting over Windows Live IM.

I have a need for a command-based interface where I can bind voice commands to keystrokes, switch between spelling / saying words / saying words without spaces, etc.

Any comments are much appreciated.

Answer 1

I think that “voice programming” and “programming by voice” search better “speech recognition programming”. It has been tried but not yet caught on.

• Here is a OpenSource project: VoiceCode. Here is a video of it in action. Voicecode seems to have been inactive for more than a year appears to be active again.
• Here is a OpenSource project: ShortTalk and EmacsListen. Here is a video of it in action.
• Another option that come up in searches is Harmonia.

The first hand accounts I’ve read all seem to agree that programming by voice can be tough on the vocal cords. Then they go on to say how it is getting better and a really usable system may be right around the corner. The first time I read that was in the late 1990s…