Unfortunately, yes. I kind of just want a UI because that makes it more fun.
I just wish more people would publish their damn stuff. I've found at least three people with genetic algorithms that I didn't know about, because they never published anything. I thought there were just a few of us, but apparently there's a lot more.
My first idea was to use genetic algorithms, but I couldn't come up with a way in which crossover made any sense with keyboard layouts. So, I started out with an algorithm called Iterative Repair (famous for solving immense versions of the n-queens problem) and tweaked it as needed. What I ended up with turned out to be a kind of self-adjusting cousin to Simulated Annealing. It works quite well and is very easy to understand. Is it worthy of putting on SourceForge, though? I haven't decided. SourceForge has a bad reputation as being a dumping ground for people's quasi-finished (or less) projects, and I don't really want to be part of the problem.
Designing UIs is definitely fun, it just has the tendency to consume vast amounts of time. Take it as a fair warning. :)