this, for me, is a frustrating aspect of programming from a user's perspective

when someone builds something they often 'hard code' their own specific interests into the thing

so let's say i am like you, and only want the comments highlighted.. if the highlighter i am using fails to allow me to alter it from the user side of things i'll have to dive into the source

if it is closed then i have to take the time to build my own wheel

if it is is open, but after investigation i find the functionality is hardcoded, piecemeal, and highly specific then i have to take the time to build my own wheel

this is an overly simplistic example of what i am trying to illuminate but from a user's perspective there is a huge difference between these equations:

    print(51)

    n=3*17
    print(n)

    a=3
    e=17
    print(a*e)

    a=sys.argv[1]
    e=sys.argv[2]
    print(a*e)

for highly configurable designs just pulling flags from the command line will get out of hand quickly but it would be superficial to have a function that allows the user to see the programs state and alter it to their needs