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I program with syntax highlighting.

I'm not convinced by the arguments of the article:

- actively clicking on matching parentheses has the benefit of selecting that part

- being more sensitive to the "beauty" of the code

I think syntax highlighting doesn't get in the way of these two points.

The only valid point:

- No syntax highlighting automatically supports all languages

True I guess. In the sense that no shoes support all feet.



"acively clicking" this is where it fails for me. In vim, there is no mouse, there is only zuul.

I get that he sees words and numbers colored but the rest of us like the quick visual context it gives when trying to quickly find things in large files. So I'm with you, :syntax on


"The only valid point:"

This is a post about preferences. Why do you think your preferences are "more valid" than theirs?


No compliler automatically supports all languages so I do all my programming with a magnetized needle and a steady hand.


I do all my programming by only making self sustaining full scale universe simulations that contain a copy of myself, so that by the strong anthropic principle the code has already been written.


I think we should have more semantic highlighting. Like giving every variable a unique color. Or color them by type!


“no syntax highlighting supports all languages, therefore I don’t use any syntax highlighting” is not even a logical argument.


That's not really what's said. If you regularly change languages and some are supported and some are not, switching to unsupported languages will be very unpleasant. Having to switch editor/install plugins/customize can be tedious.




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