Using Colemak doesn't stop you from adding symbol mappings that suit you, in my opinion. The default Colemak just doesn't do anything to the symbols, since many users don't need that.

When doing my research when I pasted in normal text such as formal letters, chat, etc.., The analyser always showed Colemak as the obvious choice. That said, the Simplified Dvorak keyboard always came a close second. That said, when it came to code, while Programmers Dvorak was the choice, true to form, again the Simplified Dvorak was in second.
I do admit that when I did paste certain sections of code, Colemak came in 1st; even ahead of Programmers D. This was of course was rare; one in 6 attempts.
So if we were to go by logic, the Simplified Dvorak seems to be the best of both; giving the best compromise on paper. Whether that is the case in real life remains to be seen.

I've practised alternate fingerings for "kn"," lk" and the like, but often find that I forget to use them when concentrating on what I'm typing rather than how I'm typing it. Since I haven't been doing much proper typing practice since matching QWERTY speed, practising the alternate fingering only occurs to me after I happen to type an awkward digraph. By which point it's too late ;)

A few things I forgot to mention in my previous post (was rushing it a bit, had dinner in the oven!):

- Shortcuts! Having a bank of shortcut keys in the lower-left corner of the keyboard really helps me. I'm left-handed but taught myself to mouse with my right, so typical workflow is click > move mouse > shift-click to highlight > Ctrl-X > move mouse > click > Ctrl-V. This was something I liked being able to do with QWERTY, so Colemak happening to share the keys was a boon in itself.

- I didn't know this at the time, but in retrospect I don't think moving the punctuation keys is very important, beyond getting the semi-colon off home row. Various attempts I've made at creating an Alt-Gr layout for punctuation haven't really paid off either, since I found bending my thumb inwards to hold Alt-Gr awkward and anything else involves so much movement I might as well have pressed the original key. Modifications I'm yet to try are the US punctuation layout (better positioning of "), and flipping the number row so that the numerals are on shift.

- Backspace as Caps Lock. Yes, I could use this modification with any layout, but it was Colemak that introduced me to the idea and it's by far my single favourite layout improvement. I actually had a relatively non-technical friend decide to try Caps Lock -> Backspace (on an otherwise QWERTY board) and he's been raving about it too!

I used my left throughout most of childhood, indeed perhaps due to my (lefty) dad left-mousing. I even stuck with it through some IT classes where the teacher would insist on keeping the mouse on the right to the point of yelling at me if I temporarily moved it to the left (!). Eventually though, I got tired of having to move back and forth for shortcuts, so I swapped the mouse over to the right.

I always wanted one of those "left-handed keyboards" with the number pad on the left, but the price of those was always extortionate, heh. I don't really notice the board being off-centre these days. If anything, it probably does a decent job of simulating the Angle mod since the left hand doesn't have to bend as much!

If you count the placement of the letters and fingers on the home row, even with the placement of the mouse on the left, you'd notice that there still more buttons on the right than the left. That is why the keyboard will always be slightly off-centre... That said, I still struggling with getting myself and Colemak working properly. Its kinda discouraging seeing someone else have such an easy time with it than what I have for a whole year... Don't get me wrong. I'm glad that they are having good experiences.. Just wish I was one of those success stories...

the keyboard doesn't have to be off center. even tenkeyless isn't enough. the apple keyboard can be centered. on pc, i use a Leopold F660C, which is nearly symmetrical; the only concession is a slight part on the right to fit the arrow keys and Insert/Delete (which i use for cut/copy/paste). still, i center this keyboard in front of me.

@Pinkyache - Thanks for the idea. Will try that. Do you ever wish that you started using Colemak 1st than using Dvorak?

I know that most people who are involved with coding would use remapped settings and stuff and that is a nice idea. But when I talk about choosing a layout for programing, I'm thinking of using it as is. No remapping and stuff.
That said, according to http://patorjk.com/keyboard-layout-analyzer/#/main; it shows Programmer Dvorak & Simplified Dvorak comes a close second. Considering that Programmer Dvorak is not a standard installed layout on any OS, I guess Simplified Dvorak is the next best for coding (As IS) and does not need to be specifically installed. But that does not mean its the best for normal typing in English; although it comes a close second. ;)

That said, the only reason that I chose Colemak is the because of the shortcuts. On a Mac, the Colemak layout shines in this area. The placement of the letters is somewhat better. I do feel that when it comes to certain words, you're literally typing with just one hand and that can get tiresome a bit. Kinda fatigues the left hand in my opinion.
Going from Colemak to Dvorak is painfully slow progress. Some of you will ask the question 'Why?'... :P
You will find some letters just not falling to hand as easy as they were with Colemak. 'L', 'F' comes to mind; but you soon get the hang of it... Then when chatting online with someone, you'll notice that characters like ':)' will be a pain due to the placement of the ';'...
On Dvorak, the punctuation is a dream. So much more easier. That is probably why it gets points for coding.

You've brought up this exact sample before, and it doesn't work for two very different reasons:

1. As I've pointed out before, the main reason colemak scores badly on this sample is the assignment of the pinkie finger to semicolon.   Changing it to the ring finger makes the results much closer.  Similar gains are not witnessed when changing the dvorak semicolons for these samples, so I suspect this to be an implementation detail.

2. The sample size is way too low; it turns out to not be a very good representation of code.  Using a larger sample yields very different results.  Even the default colemak scores similarly to the dvoraks (slightly higher - but not, I don't think, significantly higher), while the colemak with semicolon assigned to the ring finger scores quite a bit better.

Finally, even the use of code samples is questionable, since they're not always representative of what you type (especially when it comes to, say, Java, famous for having so much redundant boilerplate an IDE is needed to fill most of it in).  To get good data, you would need to record the actual keystrokes sent to your editor in the course of programming.

Thanks for the info. I get what you're saying... Yesterday I made a huge sample by compiling a bunch of old emails, code, formal letters and a whole bunch of other things together.. the result came out as Colemak (which should be a relief to everyone here... :P)
I just wanted to see with all the variation of stuff that I do on the computer each day, what the outcome was...
It was interesting to see how the results change as I added each bit of text. :)

What you say does bring up a relevant topic, but it wasn't actually what we were saying.  What we were saying is that you need more code (as opposed to more stuff in general) in order to evaluate colemak's usefulness in coding.  Even then, that kind of study may not be accurate due to editor completion.

But you bring up a relevant point: it's also true that we'd want to evaluate colemak's usefulness for the coder, rather than colemak's usefulness in coding.  In general, code tends to be dwarfed by text, even for the programmer.  This has led to some suggesting ignoring code altogether, especially if you can make further improvements on, say, the AltGr or even the editor level.

If anyone wants to know what I mean about the keyboard being off-centre to the left... this is what I mean... I guess that is something that you have to live with if you plan on using a full-size keyboard. (Excuse the messy workstation. Its my Hackintosh at home.) :)

I never install Colemak on Windows machines! PKL for the Win.

That kind of skewness looks dangerous as it'll promote ulnar deviation. Unless you can get hold of a tenkeyless keyboard you should move the mouse or yourself.