Compiler errors are much better than the alternative: a run-time bug that won't manifest itself until you put the program under the correct conditions for failu

Compiler errors are much better than the alternative: a run-time bug that won't manifest itself until you put the program under the correct conditions for failure. Compile-time errors are something that programmers have added to compilers to make programming easier/safer because the alternative is truly catastrophic (accidentally shipping broken software and having to isolate more bugs by hand). I'm not really arguing against syntax highlighting, just saying that this argument for it isn't so black-and-white. Keep in mind that there are many issues syntax-highlighting can't catch that your compiler can (unresolved identifiers, using the wrong function, or accidentally choosing the wrong keyword).