Linus Åkesson personal blog
A case against syntax highlighting
Do you rely on syntax highlighting when developing software? If so, you may be shooting yourself in the foot. In this post, I will argue that syntax highlighting, while aesthetically seductive, moves focus from content to form, and discourages those who look at the code from trying to understand it.
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Linked from 24 Hacker News comments by 19 different people, from Nov 2012 to Sep 2026.
Most recent:
- watermelon0 · Sep 25, 2026
- kqr · Aug 26, 2026
- userbinator · Apr 24, 2026
- cogman10 · Aug 5, 2023
- userbinator · May 28, 2023
- jayFellows · Sep 19, 2022
