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A comment on The impact of syntax colouring on program comprehension [pdf]. Parent comment

Re:The impact of syntax colouring on program comprehension [... by zwp on Thursday November 26, 2015 @08:12AM (#10632799)
> dick measuring contest

A more experienced colleague: "Pah, that's just a crutch". Well, yes. And?

My personal tipping point was watching a sysadmin edit resolv.conf and type "namesrever": vim picked it out in reverse red. This mistake could otherwise have gone unnoticed for a while. Good crutch.

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Re:The impact of syntax colouring on program comprehension [... by efaref on Thursday November 26, 2015 @09:09AM (#10633015)
When I first started writing python, my number one error was writing "else" without the necessary colon. A simple adjustment to my syntax highlighter and I stopped that class of error completely.
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Re:The impact of syntax colouring on program comprehension [... by mikeash on Thursday November 26, 2015 @02:41PM (#10634392)
Other crutches: keyboards (just enter your data with switches), non-volatile memory (reload everything manually at power on), compilers (generate machine code by hand), etc.
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Re:The impact of syntax colouring on program comprehension [... by kazinator on Friday November 27, 2015 @12:30AM (#10636005)
If someone says "pah, that's just a crutch" in a dick measuring contest, it's safe to say that he has won.
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