In this article I examine human and machine aspects of typing latency (“typing lag”) and present experimental data on latency of popular text / code editors. The article is inspired by my work on implementing “zero-latency typing” in IntelliJ IDEA.
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Human side
1.1. Feedback 1.2. Motor skill 1.3. Internal model 1.4. Multisensory integration 1.5. Effects
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Machine side
2.1. Input latency 2.2. Processing latency 2.3. Output latency 2.4. Total latency
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Editor benchmarks
3.1. Configuration 3.2. Methodology 3.3. Windows 3.4. Linux 3.5. VirtualBox
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Summary
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Links
…To measure processing delays experimentally I created Typometer—a tool to determine and analyze visual latency of text editors (sources). Typometer works by generating OS input events and using screen capture to measure the delay between a keystroke and a corresponding screen update. Hence, the measurement encompasses all the constituents of processing latency (i. e. OS queue, VM, editor, GPU pipeline, buffering, window manager and possible V-Sync). That is the right thing to do, because all those components are inherently intertwined with the editor, and in principle, editor application has influence on all the parts…[He tested 9] Editors: Atom 1.1 / Eclipse 4.5.1 / Emacs 24.5.1 / Gedit 3.10.4 / GVim 7.4.712 / IntelliJ Idea CE 15.0 / Netbeans 8.1 / Notepad++ 6.8.4 / Sublime Text 3083.
Apparently, editors are not created equal (at least, from the standpoint of latency).