Good Editor? (What's the big deal with syntax colouring?)

[Steve Holden]

"Timothy Grant" <tjg at exceptionalminds.com> wrote in message
news:mailman.985295730.14145.python-list at python.org...
> On Thu, Mar 22, 2001 at 12:10:59PM -0800, John Schmitt wrote:
> > Why do people want syntax colouring?  I can't stand it.  One of my minor
> > beefs with CodeWright is that there isn't a one button way to tell it to
> > change _all_ of my colours all at once.  Am I missing something by
disabling
> > syntax colouring?  It always reminds me of the artwork my 6-year-old
nephew
> > brings home from school to show his mommy.
>
> Hey, I'm colour blind, and I still need syntax highlighting
> though I can't see all of the colour differenctials.
>
> It's pretty simple. Forget to close a ("|')--or open one for
> that matter, and you automatically know somethings wrong
> because the colours are wrong, misspell(sp?) a keyword and you
> know it because it doesn't hi-light in the correct colour.
>
> It is a huge benefit to getting syntax correct before you save
> your file.
>
> Now if only else didn't highlight but else: did<wink>
>
I seem to remember that having to write your source on coding forms, have it
punched up on tape or cards and waiting six hours until the computer center
had deposited the printout in your pigenhole made me similarly careful about
my coding style.

that's-when-i-discovered-semantics-ly y'rs  - steve