[sf-perl] IDEs and/or Editors

[Quinn Weaver]

On Thu, Feb 22, 2007 at 03:45:37PM -0800, David Alban wrote:
> [with all due respect to those who like syntax highlighting]
> 
> I once stopped using speed dialing because it made me forget the phone
> numbers eventually.  I wonder if using syntax highlighting can make
> you less effective eventually if you have to use an editor that
> doesn't have it...
> 
> I personally don't like syntax highlighting (but not for the reason
> above).  I find the flashing changing colors annoying and distracting.
>  I wonder if I'm in the minority...

Dunno.  I go through phases with it; sometimes I use it and sometimes
I don't.

I find code position is more salient than color, so I try to
indent my code well.  If I do that, I don't really need syntax
highlighting (or sigils, braces, and semicolons, for that matter--
Python reads at least as well as Perl to me).

All this kinda matches the graphic design research on perceptual
primitives like value, size, and position... kinda.  I wonder if
anyone has ever researched the way these primitives work in the coding
domain.

-- 
Quinn Weaver, independent contractor  |  President, San Francisco Perl Mongers
http://fairpath.com/quinn/resume/     |  http://sf.pm.org/