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Startled to read this, since I point to syntax highlighting as the single biggest boost to productivity since I started coding (back in the monochrome monitor y
by femto113 10y ago
Startled to read this, since I point to syntax highlighting as the single biggest boost to productivity since I started coding (back in the monochrome monitor years). Now coding without it feels like trying to play chess with non-Staunton pieces, there's an extra cognitive load that has nothing to do with the end goal.
- gingerrr 10y agoTHIS! I'm shocked to see so few comments discussing the amount of mental overhead syntax highlighting helps you avoid. Without syntax highlighting, I have to keep the contextual meaning of every character I read in state mentally, and constantly update the mental map I have of the code. I have to actively parse every character. With syntax highlighting, the relationship of each token to the rest of the tokens around it is preserved, so that meaning is inferable rather than needing to be maintained in memory. I can scan and jump around between meaningful code anchors without having to read every line of code between. It's like getting to jump straight to the AST. To each their own, of course. I started programming without syntax highlighting and the switch made me a faster dev without question.