Comment by mdf

Good points in this post, although I'd add the word "Only" in front of the headline.

IMO, syntax highlighting definitely has its uses, but why limit ourselves to only using colors for that? I'd like to see a future, where depending on whether I'm, for example:

- sketching the structure for a completely new program,

- implementing a new feature to an existing program,

- refactoring an existing program,

- debugging a problem in my program,

- writing tests, or

- trying to find something for reference

I'd be able to seamlessly switch between different highlighting schemes. I don't (yet) know what I'd prefer for each of these different modes of software development. The author of TFA lists some ideas for some different ways of doing semantic highlighting. Maybe over the years I'd grow to like some of them for some of these tasks.