Learning emacs

[Paul O'Donnell <odonnellp@rogers.com>]

Hi All,

I am completely new to emacs, and looking forward to learning how to use 
this much praised editor. I am also new to Linux in general. I am a 
programmer, currently teaching myself Lisp and want to use a tool like 
emacs that I can use for all the languages that I write code in. Coming 
from the Windows world emacs is not at all what I am used to. I am not 
much of a typist, maybe 45 wpm, as long as I don't have to use Control 
and Alt keys, which brings me to my question.

I don't know which fingers to use to press these keys. It seems obvious 
to me that the baby finger of the opposite hand should be used for the 
Control key, but what about the Alt key? The thumb of the opposite hand 
maybe? I don't want to download typing tutorial software. I really don't 
have time for that. I just want to know which fingers to use.

I apologize if this seems off topic for this newsgroup, but there 
doesn't seem to be a usenet group for touch typing. I figured at least 
one of you out there prides himself in his speed when working with emacs 
and knows the answer.As it is now, I am having a hard time enjoying this 
  editor because of its extensive use of these keys.

Thanks.

Paul