Earlier quoted context omitted.
When I'm reading the code I need to understand what it does, the underlying characters are just a medium. I can see way quicker that a complex boolean expression is wrong when I see ≠ instead of != and ⪖ instead of >=. I do agree with the Butterick that when presenting code to others, for example as examples, the ligatures are a big no, because in this case you actually need to see what characters you need to input.
In that case it works reasonably well, but how do you represent the difference between `=`, `==` and `===` in javascript. IMO =, == and === is much clearer and more visually distinct than ≔, = and ≡.
Dev Fonts
131–140 of 342 posts
Re: Dev Fonts
#132I don't see ligatures solving any important problem. If you think they do, I'd rather change syntax highlighting to recognize !== and others as a single token . It's like multi-select in text editors. When you think about it, it's actually an inferior form of search&replace. Inferior because it interacts badly with off-screen matches. I find arguments of kakoune users unconvincing. My personal opinion is - and I'm fi…
This is a curious position to take given that it's mostly a personal choice. People will like what they like, and that's perfectly fine! No need to denigrate frontend devs, or anyone, for a stylistic choice.
I think this post would fit very well at /r/unixporn, similar to ASCII art, pixellated graphics or low poly models.
Re: Dev Fonts
#133Additional features that would really elevate this site:
- Votes!
- Sort/Filter by Font Family, Alphabetical, Last Added, (vote count)
- A long shot here... if you're looking for something to do, give yourself a ML project by trying to somehow analyze fonts for similarity and link to most similar fonts and most different fonts.
Re: Dev Fonts
#134I switched to coding in a proportional font, Verdana, a couple of years ago and never looked back. That's the font you are reading this comment in, in fact. Code is mostly words and words are much easier to read in a proportional font. Symbols are plenty clear enough in Verdana, all letters are distinguishable, and I don't use mid-line alignment so I don't see the point in a monospace font outside of the terminal.
Re: Dev Fonts
#135I use a classic VGA Bios font and never looked back. https://int10h.org/oldschool-pc-fonts/fontlist/
Re: Dev Fonts
#136Re: Dev Fonts
#137Earlier quoted context omitted.
“ligatures in programming fonts are a terrible idea” I agree as well with the point about ligatures, but I find funny that the advice comes from a site that thinks straight up normal text with no hover, no distinct color, no distinct font and no underline is a good way to signal linked pages https://i.imgur.com/9iVMfgD.png (who would have guessed Racket was a link?)
I certainly don't blame you for not noticing the `#fbf3f3` background color on hover. However, it seems that every link is either small caps or has that trailing ° character. It looks like the former is used for internal links, and the latter for external. I agree that they're certainly not screaming, but considering that the author considers this a book , that is probably by design.
Re: Dev Fonts
#138Earlier quoted context omitted.
This looks really nice, too bad it doesn't (and never will) support ligatures. I understand the point the author is trying to make about ligatures in the separate blog post, but boy do I love my ligatures when programming.
To me, ligatures in programming always file like a kind of syntax highlighting if that worked on the character level rather than the token level. Suppose given `difficulty = 3` your editor would highlight the `if`. That's how these ligatures feel to me.
For example, if you type three '=' symbols in Firas Code or JetBrains Mono, you get ≡, but if you type a fourth '=' it snaps back to '===='.
I can invent some odd situations where I get a ligature in the middle of a string, but in actual coding (for me 80% JS, 10% HTML/CSS and 10% Ruby) I simply don't see any incorrect ligatures.
Re: Dev Fonts
#139Re: Dev Fonts
#140My favourite monospaced font is Triplicate https://practicaltypography.com/triplicate.html >: the only true serif monospace that I know of (though I have a vague feeling I found one other at some point). Every other serif monospace I know of is a slab serif. Triplicate’s variable stroke thickness is also exceedingly rare in monospaced fonts; almost everyone goes for uniform stroke thickness, as is customary with sans…
This looks really nice, too bad it doesn't (and never will) support ligatures. I understand the point the author is trying to make about ligatures in the separate blog post, but boy do I love my ligatures when programming.