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> Syntax is not the most challenging part of programming.
It seems like unless you’re learning the language it’s mainly a distraction.
I mean, the fact that many people seek out and use highlighted code underlines that many people don't experience what you experience.
I remember back in the day programming PHP in notepad, unhighlighted. Finding Sublime Text 2 with highlighting was a revelation.
For simpler syntaxes like C or Java, I think the highlighting adds little. But as a language allows for more complex things like monkey patching or helper methods and the like, a little bit of color is really helpful. Knowing immediately that a method is built into the SDK or that it's some monkey patch that's been added gives me better understanding on what the code is doing.
That said, "go to definition" and "autocomplete" are the most important tools to me when it comes to coding.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think Torvalds also goes on that list as another ACME user. He mentioned as much in the extended video interview he did with Microsoft recently. For myself, I've had to spend a lot of time without colorful syntax recently as I was working on building my own IDE and my own syntaxes and even my own system of syntax highlighting. It would have been a distraction to be constantly fighting with someone else's system of…
Is the Torvalds interview available somewhere? I thought he used his own hacked-up micro Emacs thing, but maybe he dropped it.
I don’t really know why it works so well for me, but I think it helps me skim and pattern match syntax much more easily without spending too much time reading every single word, which is exhausting for me.
Types and autocompletion in an IDE also help me massively reduce issues with spelling and ultimately free up my brain to think about the logic rather than stressing out about every single thing I type.
Really cool that some people don’t need it, but for me, I am grateful to those who have spent the time on great themes. Solarized Dark is a favourite of mine.
Language models made syntax highlighting extremely cheap to make.
I think language matters quite a bit when it comes to how useful this is. For simpler syntaxes like C or Java, I think the highlighting adds little. But as a language allows for more complex things like monkey patching or helper methods and the like, a little bit of color is really helpful. Knowing immediately that a method is built into the SDK or that it's some monkey patch that's been added gives me better underst…
I can’t help but wonder how those same engineers are adapting to the current wave of AI-powered development tools like Claude Code and Cursor.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think Torvalds also goes on that list as another ACME user. He mentioned as much in the extended video interview he did with Microsoft recently. For myself, I've had to spend a lot of time without colorful syntax recently as I was working on building my own IDE and my own syntaxes and even my own system of syntax highlighting. It would have been a distraction to be constantly fighting with someone else's system of…
Is the Torvalds interview available somewhere? I thought he used his own hacked-up micro Emacs thing, but maybe he dropped it.