I wouldn't want comments to be emphasised while I'm working with the code. The real reason comments are de-emphasised is not because someone thinks they're les

I wouldn't want comments to be emphasised while I'm working with the code. The real reason comments are de-emphasised is not because someone thinks they're less important, but because you use code in two different modes. In one mode, you're getting an overview and might want comments for that. In another mode, you're working on the code and are so immersed in it, you don't need the comments. That's why many environments support comment expanding/collapsing. There are more sophisticated things imaginable for code representation, like where it is held in a relational DB or something, but simple flat text files tend to work best, so we're stuck with the reality of having two show a dumb sequence of characters in these two different modes. So to me, code is like those pictures with two different meanings ("Boring Figures"). You choose to see it with or without the comments. And de-emphasised text works for that.