I’m sure there are lots of professionals who rely on the F row, but never in my (long) coding career have I used those keys (except for a brief DOS period), so surely it’s not a downgrade for everyone.
And I have never, in more than twenty-five years of using a Mac laptop and surrounding myself with people who do the same, seen anyone try to _touch-type_ a function key.
That's because the design of keyboard prevents it. There should be a gap between F4 and F5 and also between F8 and F9.
If the gaps were there, I know I would use it. On my desk where I use the Mac around 60% of the time, I have an USB keyboard that has the gaps and I'm touch-typing F keys on it. It's the only thing I really hate when I use the laptop's keyboard directly.
How do you step through code? I use the Function keys to step over/into/out of methods/functions when debugging, without having to look down at the keyboard.
Ooh, I do! Or at least, did, before touch bar. I use Apptivate to remap them to my most used programs. So I could touch type to bring up Finder, Terminal, Chrome, Sublime, etc.
I also use the FN keys extensively each day to control screen brightness, volume and change songs without looking.
Almost anyone i have seen use MBP i have seen at some point use the brightness or volume controls without looking. So you don't even have to be using them for some advanced purpose. The panic volume-down with the right hand is a classic.
I actually don't quite believe you guys saying that you don't use the built-in functions several times a day - that was the first thing that was annoying to me with the touchbar. That you can't control volume and brightness from pure memory.
Personally, I like controlling the brightness and volume with Touch Bar. If anything, it makes the adjustment more precise.
But again, that's a personal preference. It's just so many technologies have changed over the last decades, that a slight variation in how I adjust my backlight doesn't bother me much.
