Technical books, dictionaries and similar structured texts consistently use syntax highlighting. Prose is very different from source code. Also, it seems to me

Technical books, dictionaries and similar structured texts consistently use syntax highlighting. Prose is very different from source code. Also, it seems to me that the author has bigger problem with the way syntax highlighting is implemented than the concept itself. I would agree there's much to be improved in syntax highlighting, in a way that would actually help programmer and draw attention to problematic constructs. This would require collaboration between editor and different tools, but it would be a good step forward I think.