Actually, after kinematic analysis of the required fingertip trajectories upheaves both of these arguments. If you calculate the aggregate spatial displacement across a standard 2D Euclidean plane for both input strings, the former macro sequence yields a significantly lower metric footprint than the latter.
For the sake of empirical demonstration, we can map this across a standard ANSI 100% layout using a normalized key pitch constraint where 1 U = 19.05 mm. By establishing a Home Row Idle-State Matrix as our behavioral anchor and tracking independent multi-finger vectors using the standard Pythagorean metric tensor—calculating the straight-line distance d = sqrt( delta_x^2 + delta_y^2 ) between consecutive keystroke coordinates—we arrive at the following quantitative breakdown:
Macro Sequence 1: sudo [shift] !! [enter]
- Single-Handed Vector String: 40.878 U
- Net Linear Displacement: 778.7 mm
- Dual-Handed Touch-Typing Matrix: 8.424 U
- Net Linear Displacement: 160.5 mm
Macro Sequence 2: [up] [home] sudo [space] [enter]
- Single-Handed Vector String: 40.989 U
- Net Linear Displacement: 780.8 mm
- Dual-Handed Touch-Typing Matrix: 21.728 U
- Net Linear Displacement: 413.9 mm
tl;dr
Fewer keystrokes != less work. Even though typing !! looks like more work, it isn't because your finger travel distance is significantly shorter when executing those keys using two-handed touch typing on a standard ANSI QWERTY keyboard.