Useless and useful little R function – Typing speed benchmark

Have you ever wondered how fast and accurate your typing is?

For this example, we will introduce some random pangrams, code examples, and random strings sorted by difficulty.

Besides the list of sample strings, we also have some helper functions – calculating WPM, accuracy and handling input and results for the user:

calculate_wpm <- function(text, time_seconds) {

  char_count <- nchar(text)
  word_count <- char_count / 5
  time_minutes <- time_seconds / 60
  wpm <- word_count / time_minutes
  
  return(round(wpm, 1))
}



calculate_accuracy <- function(original, typed) {
  
  orig_chars <- strsplit(original, "")[[1]]
  typed_chars <- strsplit(typed, "")[[1]]
  orig_len <- length(orig_chars)
  typed_len <- length(typed_chars)
  if (typed_len == 0) {
    return(0)
  }

  compare_len <- min(orig_len, typed_len)
  matches <- sum(orig_chars[1:compare_len] == typed_chars[1:compare_len])
  
  length_penalty <- abs(orig_len - typed_len)
  accuracy <- (matches / orig_len) * 100
  penalty_pct <- (length_penalty / orig_len) * 100
  accuracy <- max(0, accuracy - penalty_pct)
  
  return(round(accuracy, 1))
}


get_random_phrase <- function(mode = "pangram", difficulty = "medium") {
  
  valid_modes <- c("pangram", "rstats", "code", "chaos")
  if (!mode %in% valid_modes) {
    warning(paste("Invalid mode; use one of these modes:", 
                  paste(valid_modes, collapse = ", ")))
    mode <- "pangram"
  }

  valid_difficulties <- c("easy", "medium", "hard")
  if (!difficulty %in% valid_difficulties) {
    warning(paste("Invalid difficulty; use one of these difficulties:",
                  paste(valid_difficulties, collapse = ", ")))
    difficulty <- "medium"
  }
  
  phrase_pool <- phrases_db[[mode]][[difficulty]]
  phrase <- sample(phrase_pool, 1)
  
  return(phrase)
}


##### Diplay results
display_results <- function(wpm, accuracy, time_seconds) {
  
  cat("\n")
  cat(rep("\U00002550", 48), "\n", sep = "")
  cat("                      RESULTS\n")
  cat(rep("\U00002550", 48), "\n", sep = "")
  
  cat("\n")
  
  cat(sprintf("  Time:        %.2f seconds\n", time_seconds))
  cat(sprintf("  WPM:         %.1f \n", wpm))
  cat(sprintf("  Accuracy:    %.1f%% \n", accuracy))

  
  cat("\n")
  cat(rep("\U00002550", 48), "\n", sep = "")

}


show_error_details <- function(original, typed) {
  
  orig_chars <- strsplit(original, "")[[1]]
  typed_chars <- strsplit(typed, "")[[1]]
  
  max_len <- max(length(orig_chars), length(typed_chars))
  if (length(orig_chars) < max_len) {
    orig_chars <- c(orig_chars, rep("_", max_len - length(orig_chars)))
  }
  if (length(typed_chars) < max_len) {
    typed_chars <- c(typed_chars, rep("_", max_len - length(typed_chars)))
  }
  
  errors <- which(orig_chars != typed_chars)
  if (length(errors) == 0) {
    cat("\n  Perfetoooo! \n")
    return(invisible(NULL))
  }
  
  cat("\n  Errors:\n")
  cat("  --------------\n")
  show_errors <- head(errors, 5)
  for (pos in show_errors) {
    expected <- if (orig_chars[pos] == " ") "[space]" else orig_chars[pos]
    got <- if (typed_chars[pos] == " ") "[space]" else 
      if (typed_chars[pos] == "_") "[missing]" else typed_chars[pos]
    cat(sprintf("  Position %d: expected '%s', got '%s'\n", pos, expected, got))
  }
  
  if (length(errors) > 5) {
    cat(sprintf("  ... and %d more errors\n", length(errors) - 5))
  }
}



### Function itself

TypingTest <- function(mode = "code", 
                       difficulty = "easy",
                       show_errors = TRUE) {
  
  # Display header
  cat("\n")
  cat("\U00002554", rep("\U00002550", 52), "\U00002557\n", sep = "")
  cat("\U00002551           R TYPING SPEED TEST                      \U00002551\n")
  cat("\U00002551           Mode: ", sprintf("%-10s", mode), " | Difficulty: ", 
      sprintf("%-8s", difficulty), "\U00002551\n", sep = "")
  cat("\U0000255A", rep("\U00002550", 52), "\U0000255D\n", sep = "")
  cat("\n")
  
  phrase <- get_random_phrase(mode, difficulty)
  cat("Type the following:\n\n")
  cat("  \"", phrase, "\"\n\n", sep = "")
  cat("Press ENTER when ready to start...")
  invisible(readline())
  
  cat("\n----------------------------------------------------------\n")
  cat("  \"", phrase, "\"\n", sep = "")
  cat("----------------------------------------------------------\n\n")
  
  start_time <- Sys.time()
  typed <- readline(prompt = "> ")
  end_time <- Sys.time()
  time_seconds <- as.numeric(difftime(end_time, start_time, units = "secs"))
  wpm <- calculate_wpm(phrase, time_seconds)
  accuracy <- calculate_accuracy(phrase, typed)
  
  display_results(
    wpm = wpm,
    accuracy = accuracy,
    time_seconds = time_seconds
  )
  
  if (show_errors && accuracy < 100) {
    show_error_details(phrase, typed)
  }
  
  cat("\nPlay again? (y/n): ")
  play_again <- tolower(readline())
  
  if (play_again == "y" || play_again == "yes") {
    return(TypingTest(mode = mode, difficulty = difficulty,  show_errors = show_errors))
  }
  
}

In the end, all we need to do is run the function itself:

Results displayed:

As always, the complete code is available on GitHub in the Useless_R_function repository. An example of a file in this repository is here (file name: TypingSpeed_tester.R.R). Check the repository for future updates.

Happy R-coding and stay healthy!

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