connecting objects with keyboard shortcuts?

Hi guys,
I'm sure this is a common complaint, but I'm a software engineer who's used to working with CLI and text editing software like vim, sublime, and other keyboard-based interfaces. I love Max but I find programming with it is often a chore because there are so many mouse movements required. I'm slowly learning the shortcuts (distributed as they are throughout lots of docs) but there's one (or 2 I guess) that I often find myself wishing for:

1. When an object is highlighted, press the number keys to grab a patcher cable from the corresponding outlet
2. When a patcher cable is grabbed, press the number keys to connect it to the corresponding inlet of the object under the cursor

I'm sure there's a reason this doesn't work out of the box (some objects take number input when selected, for example) but is there any easy way to connect objects without using the mouse to click on each tiny outlet and inlet? I've been playing around with the max toolbox extra (a javascript extension) which is pretty good but requires selecting all the objects first, so is more useful for mass connection and such.

Anyway, just looking for tips on improving my workflow to avoid doing so much clicking. Thanks!