Interesting. Both what Kyle talks about, and also the fact that I've never thought of not having syntax highlighting before. It's just been a built in assumption.
I opened vim and cycled through syntax on, syntax off a few times, and thought about what I think about when I see it. After this short experiment, I think that most of what I use syntax highlighting for is just to add texture to the code. The pattern of indentations and syntax highlighting gives the code shape.
So when I scroll, or scan the code, I've got another a set of visual anchors in addition to the structure given by indentation. It makes me feel more comfortable. Past that, for me, the syntax highlighting is just noise.
Makes me wonder how to increase the feeling of visual structure in the code without introducing visual noise...
I opened vim and cycled through syntax on, syntax off a few times, and thought about what I think about when I see it. After this short experiment, I think that most of what I use syntax highlighting for is just to add texture to the code. The pattern of indentations and syntax highlighting gives the code shape.
So when I scroll, or scan the code, I've got another a set of visual anchors in addition to the structure given by indentation. It makes me feel more comfortable. Past that, for me, the syntax highlighting is just noise.
Makes me wonder how to increase the feeling of visual structure in the code without introducing visual noise...