How to stop relying on the mouse

I have a few recommendations.

• just like what @robertmjohnson said, switching to vim is probably the most optimal choice.
• Assuming you are using chrome, use Vimium
• Use Wox to open any application.
• Utilize Windows 10's virtual desktops; Instead of trying to spam alt-tab to find the right window, you could separate and organize all those windows into two Virtual desktops.
• Take a peek at all of Windows 10's shortkeys
• Ask yourself the question of "Can this mouse action on this application be replaced by keyboard shortcuts?", then look into what short-keys the said application provides.
• Script key-sequence, short-keys, or cursor actions with AutoHotkey. This is pretty easy to use and AutoHotkey provides really good documentation.

With that said, I think there's a diminishing return to trying to familiarize yourself with so many possible keyboard shortcuts. You want to slowly ease into this. Also, try to not have too many apps/tabs opened; the less you have on the screen, the less maneuvering you'll have to do.

The following is a true story:

"1998, Grunge is all the rage, computers are becoming ubiquitous but still expensive. I have spent my last dime getting a new Pentium machine. My cat chewed through my mouse cable. I couldn't afford to buy a new one so I went without for about 2 weeks. I learned to use the Windows key, (commonly referred to as the 'Four Flag Key'), and I learned to tab my way around websites and word documents. The End"

But seriously, pick a task, give yourself 20 minutes and unplug that mouse! (NOTE: I mean unplug in the existential sense, I realize that most people don't use a wired mouse anymore...EXCEPT FOR => #PCMASTERRACE.

:P

For IntelliJ IDE's install the KeyPromoter X addon. It's really useful.

For getting better at touch typing I can recommend typing.io. It's free to try, the limitation being there are a only a relatively small set of "lessons" begin with. It costs $10 a month to upgrade to being able to upload source code in order to create new lessons.

This cost does feel rather cheeky because it doesn't include any more built-in lessons, so you have to trawl through Github yourself to find some decent files to upload. However I've carried on using it over the past 12 months because all other online typing trainers I've found are focused on typing natural language rather than code, whereas this makes sure you practice those awkward to type yet common characters like parens and braces.

Once you've got better at touch typing you'll start to hate needing to move your hands away from the home row, at which point I recommend you start learning Vim - there's simply no other style of editing that is better at keeping your fingers on those home keys. No need to move over to Vim itself as your editor though, you can download a VSCode plugin for that. There's no need to feel intimidated by Vim though, the Vim learning curve is a myth.

I would suggest to Vim or NeoVim or, at least, its simulators for other editors. Vim is great tool for Mouseless Development and it has a great community of users who loves it and share their configs and plugins. It's cool to do everything in a terminal window. Vim + Tmux is the way for me.

use the notions of workspaces in your OS I use xmonad as window manager (but gnome would do the trick) . e.g You set a workspace with a shared sceen with browser + vim*. and other workspace with a terminal for commands. With keyboard you quickly switch between then and (for xmonad) I can even switch the workspace layout. Use vim. Vim is great by itself and with a set of plugins its even better. The learning curve is not that high and it sure worth it.

It's almost a year since I did this changes because of a Tendinitis and now I do everything more quickly and my right hand is getting better!

If you are a windows user, consider setting a virtual machine for development!

to learn vim:
just execute vimtutor (comes with vim)
play around with the free version of vim-adventures.com/
(it's good enough to learn, but it's so fun that you will want to
have a license for some months)

also: shortcutfoo.com/app/dojos

Quick start: seriously, just open vim
ESC gets out of any mode to normal mode
i or a (there are other keys) puts you in insert mode,
if you need to select something use visual mode

h(left) j(down) k(up) l (right)

good luck

About Vim. I think it's not so necessary if you're using vscode like me. But, if you want this, use vim plugin to vscode.

Just this, learn about keybinds and fight against the mouse temptation.

Just a complementation: There is a linux interface called i3. It's completely designed to works only with shortcuts. Search about "Manjaro i3" on Google if you apreciated the idea.

I've been largely mouseless for years.

On Linux: xmonad, terminal + tmux + terminal vim, vimium

OS X: same thing minus vimium

I do use the mouse on OS X because OS X is optimized for mouse use. Nevertheless all my dev work is done in terminal in tmix in vim.

Not a vim user here, but I tried using Vimium and I'm having fun for now. I don't know if I'm ready to switch to vim for code edition, but I guess if I learn a little at a time I'll be able to switch without loosing too much productivity !

Not just vim, you can get really efficient for heavier IDEs like phpstorm also, with a good set of shortcuts.