Eh, deciding ergonomics by a democracy of internet users is pointless (99% of them are probably just repeating things they read on the internet anyway).
Dvorak will reduce the amount of finger motion. Other claims require further proof, but it's fairly trivial to demonstrate that dvorak is better for your hands.
Not surprised, dvorak is optimized for speed in pure text, and programming is not pure text, nor does it need a lot of speed most of the times, and the ()[]{};.$ symbols are the most important, which clashes with what the dvorak layout considers important.
I'm a Dvorak user, but I think it's a wash. Dvorak moves the [] and {} up a row beside the backspace key; but some compensation is that =/+ is moved down a row, and -/_ is moved down two rows. $ and () are in the same places. . is above the Qwerty D rather than below the L and ';', like reflection through the keyboard center-point.
I would point out that when using curly-brace languages, I never actually type either { or }. Instead, I use an editor macro that inserts the brace pair with appropriate indentation and leaves the cursor at an extra level of indentation in a new line between.
As a dvorak programmer, it just prompted me to write more python. If you're typing {} characters all day, you should consider how much semantic value that's adding to your programs vs. the cost to type them.
Other characters (',."<>) are clear wins on dvorak, and they contain considerably more semantic value than {} do in any language. ";" is also easier in dvorak.
Yea, but it's right pinky which is weaker for most people. By moving it you also gain the -_ being on the home row (which you type less than semi-colon while programming in syntax demanding languages)
Why then would dvorak put s there if it were difficult?
Sensibly most English punctuation is on the left hand along with the vowels on dvorak; which is easy to remember.
Dvorak is very well considered. The combos: qu, th, wh, ph feel really nice.
What amazes me is the fact that the keys are staggered on a computer; I'd expect them to be radial; with my fingers. It appears no one's ready for a radical departure from the typewriter layout. Let's see what happens with the ipad.
Yea, I'm 100% ready for touch screens to become a reality so I can start playing with more complicated keyboards. The idea of physical keys (even with a better layout like Dvorak) seems so antiquated when everything else we use on the computer is infinitely customizable.
I'm not sure exactly how optimized Dvorak is. There are far more sophisticated (computerized) ways to optimize keyboard layout now than there was back when the Dvorak layout was created.
Also, although those punctuation characters are indeed important (though I'd add '/', and '-' to your short-list), you probably type the alphabetic characters far more (just my guess, admittedly).
Dvorak will reduce the amount of finger motion. Other claims require further proof, but it's fairly trivial to demonstrate that dvorak is better for your hands.