4 ms·

We might add an evolution of the display of parentheses... B&W () B&W and optional bold () B&W and optional bold/larger () Full color rainbow parentheses.

by lispm 2y ago

We might add an evolution of the display of parentheses... B&W () B&W and optional bold () B&W and optional bold/larger () Full color rainbow parentheses. B&W () One or two of the Lisp editors I use also support rainbow parentheses, but after an initial phase of experimentation, I have disabled that feature.

mckn1ght 2y ago
This is the first time I’ve ever seen rainbow parentheses, it seems like such a useful thing. What wound up leading you back to B&W?
- medo-bear 2y ago
  Probably because you get used to them and different colours become distracting. Highlighting of active parentheses is more useful
- lispm 2y ago
  Too much visual clutter with very little actual benefit. I found that I don't need/want to find matching parentheses by a mix of position AND color.
  - aredox 2y ago
    Using an actual rainbow seems a bad idea. I will try to set up a Viridis (or similar perceptually continuous) color scheme next time I dabble in lisps.
- dreamcompiler 2y ago
  Not the parent but speaking for myself. I read Lisp code by looking at the indentations. Parens don't matter unless they're wrong, and they're rarely wrong because my editor matches them as I type, and then I just tell it to indent everything properly. If the indentation looks goofy after that step I notice it immediately and only then do I look for paren problems. Lisp is by far my favorite language but if I had to write it with a "dumb" text editor it would quickly stop being my favorite. Most editors are smart these days, and this is why it's hard to explain to newbies that the parens don't get in your way: When you build lisp code your editor manages the parens for you and they become essentially invisible. So color solves a problem that doesn't exist (for me).
dgb23 2y ago
I like my parens in a muted color with the currently active one highlighted. Rainbow colors are extremely distracting and overloading to me.
phforms 2y ago
I also came back to B&W because I’ve noticed that with structural editing I think more in terms of s-expressions than parentheses and distinguishing them isn’t that much of a problem anymore.
roenxi 2y ago
Golden opportunity to slip an "animated" option in there. I'm pretty sure there are editors with a little jump to the other side of a form to show where it is.
- lispm 2y ago
  In Zmacs on the Lisp Machine, the s-expression under the mouse cursor gets an outline. This is updated while the mouse is moving.
ReleaseCandidat 2y ago
I use these colours for rainbow brackets in all other languages https://github.com/Release-Candidate/vscode-scheme-repl/blob/main/images/macro-expand.gif https://github.com/Release-Candidate/vscode-scheme-repl/blob... but for LISPs I dimmed them (their saturation) down for normal editing (when not "recording" animations/videos).

by lispm 2y ago

mckn1ght 2y ago

This is the first time I’ve ever seen rainbow parentheses, it seems like such a useful thing. What wound up leading you back to B&W?

medo-bear 2y ago
Probably because you get used to them and different colours become distracting. Highlighting of active parentheses is more useful
lispm 2y ago
Too much visual clutter with very little actual benefit. I found that I don't need/want to find matching parentheses by a mix of position AND color.
- aredox 2y ago
  Using an actual rainbow seems a bad idea. I will try to set up a Viridis (or similar perceptually continuous) color scheme next time I dabble in lisps.
dreamcompiler 2y ago
Not the parent but speaking for myself. I read Lisp code by looking at the indentations. Parens don't matter unless they're wrong, and they're rarely wrong because my editor matches them as I type, and then I just tell it to indent everything properly. If the indentation looks goofy after that step I notice it immediately and only then do I look for paren problems. Lisp is by far my favorite language but if I had to write it with a "dumb" text editor it would quickly stop being my favorite. Most editors are smart these days, and this is why it's hard to explain to newbies that the parens don't get in your way: When you build lisp code your editor manages the parens for you and they become essentially invisible. So color solves a problem that doesn't exist (for me).

dgb23 2y ago

I like my parens in a muted color with the currently active one highlighted. Rainbow colors are extremely distracting and overloading to me.

phforms 2y ago

I also came back to B&W because I’ve noticed that with structural editing I think more in terms of s-expressions than parentheses and distinguishing them isn’t that much of a problem anymore.

roenxi 2y ago

Golden opportunity to slip an "animated" option in there. I'm pretty sure there are editors with a little jump to the other side of a form to show where it is.

lispm 2y ago
In Zmacs on the Lisp Machine, the s-expression under the mouse cursor gets an outline. This is updated while the mouse is moving.

ReleaseCandidat 2y ago

I use these colours for rainbow brackets in all other languages https://github.com/Release-Candidate/vscode-scheme-repl/blob/main/images/macro-expand.gif https://github.com/Release-Candidate/vscode-scheme-repl/blob... but for LISPs I dimmed them (their saturation) down for normal editing (when not "recording" animations/videos).