Most studies find a weak but real effect. In other words, syntax highlighting doesn't help much, but it does help. The effect tends to get lessened the more experienced a programmer is. That said, as a pretty experienced programmer: I will take all the help I can get.
Josh Hawkins began coding at 9 years old, focusing on video games, but now focuses on full stack dev, compiler dev, and hacks away every day on countless open source projects related to the field.
That’s interesting, thanks! I would have thought a little more than a “weak” help as it helps you quickly recognize code blocks and find definitions and weed out comments without having to read the code and comprehend it.
Come to think of it, an eye-tracking study would be really neat to see on this...
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Fun fact! There is literally psychology research on whether syntax highlighting improves code comprehension. ppig.org/sites/default/files/2015-...
Most studies find a weak but real effect. In other words, syntax highlighting doesn't help much, but it does help. The effect tends to get lessened the more experienced a programmer is. That said, as a pretty experienced programmer: I will take all the help I can get.
That’s interesting, thanks! I would have thought a little more than a “weak” help as it helps you quickly recognize code blocks and find definitions and weed out comments without having to read the code and comprehend it.
Come to think of it, an eye-tracking study would be really neat to see on this...