Top Programming Fonts • Hacker News Board

Re: Top Programming Fonts

#41

Post by pavel_lishin » Tue, May 19, 2009, 3:46 AM UTC

spoondan wrote: post #37

lallysingh wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For day-to-day programming, why does l/1, O/0 matter? I usually don't see them in contexts where they could be confused.

A few cases that have occurred over the years: 1. Working with inherited code, one of the original programmers had an identifier I believed was "el" (short for "element") but that was actually "e1" (presumably short for "element 1"). You don't know frustration until your compiler tells you "undefined identifier 'el'" when, by all appearances, there's nothing wrong with your code. Not only did I waste a couple of hour…

I always thought it was amusing that the 3 is right above the 3, and the 0 above the o. I've made a few "leet-speak" errors in the past just due to finger-slips.

Re: Top Programming Fonts

#42

Post by stratomorph » Tue, May 19, 2009, 3:57 AM UTC

moe wrote: post #8

In the past, we’ve had to decide between tiny monospace fonts or jagged edges. But today, modern operating systems do a great job of anti-aliasing, making monospace fonts look great at any size. It’s not 1990 anymore. Give your tired eyes a break and bump up that font size. No, thanks. All the anti-aliased screenshots in his post look blurry and some make me outright cringe. Also he missed my personal favorite: http:…

I concur about the blurriness. It'll be a good day indeed when everyone has a 300dpi display and we can get rid of anti-aliased text for good. Anti-aliasing looks great for headlines at large point sizes, but for bulk text, that blurry look is bad for my reading speed, and a continual distraction, as well. I hate that about Linux, how hard it is to find a free font that looks good when hammered into the pixel grid, and it's nice to see some new ones from time to time.

Re: Top Programming Fonts

#43

Post by bittersweet » Tue, May 19, 2009, 9:33 AM UTC

ashleyw wrote: post #6

I love 'Bitstream Vera Sans Mono'. I've tried tons of fonts, but always fall back on that. I use Ruby a lot, and it complements the language nicely…

Indeed, I've been using this font since watching the railscasts by Ryan Bates and it's great. I was using the standard Monaco before.

I don't know why but switching to a new font made me a happier programmer!

Re: Top Programming Fonts

#44

Post by ashleyw » Tue, May 19, 2009, 10:21 AM UTC

ashleyw wrote: post #6

I love 'Bitstream Vera Sans Mono'. I've tried tons of fonts, but always fall back on that. I use Ruby a lot, and it complements the language nicely…

I forgot to mention, I use it on OSX, where the anti-aliasing makes a big difference; when I tried it on Windows, it didn't look that great!

Re: Top Programming Fonts

#45

Post by wolverian » Tue, May 19, 2009, 12:32 PM UTC

chaosmachine wrote: post #12

Colsolas was the best thing to come out of Vista. In fact, it's the only thing I kept when I switched back to XP, and later, to OS X.

I used Consolas for ages, but now switched back to DejaVu Mono, mostly because it's thinner horizontally.

Re: Top Programming Fonts

#46

Post by dhotson » Tue, May 19, 2009, 12:38 PM UTC

I used to use Bitstream Vera Sana Mono but I switched to using Liberation Mono, it was released for free by the red hat guys. https://fedorahosted.org/liberation-fonts/

I'd recommend both, but I like Liberation Mono more.

Re: Top Programming Fonts

#47

Post by smhinsey » Tue, May 19, 2009, 2:40 PM UTC

anovaskulk wrote: post #22

smhinsey wrote: post #20

I am a big fan of Envy Type R.

You probably mean Envy Code R? And yes, it's a great font. I wouldn't use any other.

haha, yeah, that is an embarrassing mixup. i even use it under linux and os x these days.

Re: Top Programming Fonts

#48

Post by torr » Tue, May 19, 2009, 2:46 PM UTC

silentbicycle wrote: post #30

moe wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, trisk is very legible for me at normal reading distance where e.g. proggy or profont feel too squeezed and slightly too small. But ultimately it's also a matter of taste, ofcourse. Generally screenshots can hardly do programming fonts justice. You have to load them into your editor and try them out on familar code. Most of the fonts showcased on that page look perfectly fine to me from the images. I only learne…

Agreed. Aside from a few major variables (fixed-width or variable-width, anti-aliased or no, weight), and ruling out fonts with obvious flaws like making 0 and O look too similar, it's largely a matter of taste. I've found that some fonts look much better as light text on dark backgrounds, or vice-versa. I use terminus ( http://shenani.gen.nz/~scott/img/terminus-sample.png ), but something about it doesn't look right…

Yeah, I know some font rendering technology specifically draws dark-on-light-bkgnd differently from light-on-dark-bkgnd, though I can't recall where I've seen it, or the details ...

Re: Top Programming Fonts

#49

Post by Semiapies » Tue, May 19, 2009, 6:11 PM UTC

moe wrote: post #26

Semiapies wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a good-looking font, but I personally need a big visual distinction, like a slash or a dot, between O's and 0's. (I do like the distinction between l's and 1's, though - lots of fonts screw that up.)

Well, I think I would prefer a slashed zero for confidence, too, but can't say this has ever been an issue in my years of real world use.

That's why I said "I personally". :)

Re: Top Programming Fonts

#50

Post by projecktzero » Tue, May 19, 2009, 7:19 PM UTC

I used Anonymous for a while, but then I switched to Consolas. I'm not sure if Anonymous is free or not. One site wants to charge you for it, and another has it for free(no, not the Pirate Bay!).