tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454006.post2793781740793979482..comments2024-01-16T14:32:49.175+00:00Comments on Arcane Sentiment: Good and bad syntax-coloringArcane Sentimenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04144052171693893368noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454006.post-45492623878042335822011-03-28T23:48:23.863+00:002011-03-28T23:48:23.863+00:00Pascal also traditionally used boldface, and it ke...Pascal also traditionally used boldface, and it kept the tradition alive for a long time (and Delphi still does today). The implementation I learned it with (Macintosh Pascal) didn't even compile to native code, but its editor automatically displayed reserved words in bold. I liked that, and when I later encountered tools that didn't do it, I thought them obviously inferior. Maybe identifying reserved words is more useful, or at least comforting, to beginners.Arcane Sentimenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04144052171693893368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454006.post-80104780035037123752011-03-28T21:07:39.186+00:002011-03-28T21:07:39.186+00:00This post made me notice that my editor highlights...This post made me notice that my editor highlights keywords in many languages in bold, and that made me think about why that choice was made, and spurred me into doing a bit of research.<br /><br />Specifically, I thought of how often I've seen keywords typeset in bold in pseudocode. And how much of that typeset pseudocode resembled Algol. And that I don't ever recall seeing keywords <i>not</i> in bold in typeset Algol. And wondering why I thought there was some Algol-y reason for that.<br /><br />And I looked into it a bit and it turns out that, long before we ever had syntax colouring, there was something called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stropping_%28syntax%29" rel="nofollow">stropping</a>.<br /><br />And now, I have a theory for why keywords are so often rendered in boldface, even though it doesn't make much sense from a usability POV: bold was the standard way to strop Algol in typesetting, and for a while, Algol was likely the most commonly typeset language on the planet.<br /><br />Old habits die hard...That Bassett Disasterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17875046009465426632noreply@blogger.com