Too much code - slicing

[Seebs]

On 2010-09-19, AK <andrei.avk at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 09/18/2010 08:35 PM, Seebs wrote:
>> That wouldn't be *syntax* highlighting, that'd be *semantic* highlighting.

> In case of programming, the effect is similar.

I have not found that to be the case.  It's been exactly the same as syntax
highlighting in English would be -- it's wasting bandwidth telling me things
I already know, which slows down my perception of the things I'm trying
to find out.

Hmm.  Actually, one thing -- I think I sometimes find it useful for a
couple of days on a new language I don't know yet.  It's helpful then,
but once I've got my parser trained, it's a distraction.

> Anyway, I find it
> very odd that anyone would not find it extremely useful (in code)!

Yes, and I find it inexplicable that people find it useful.

News flash:  Not all people think the same way.  Film at 11.  :)

I've tried to use syntax coloring editors, and I've always found that
they end up making me slower and less accurate at reading things,
because what they're highlighting isn't waht what I need to know.

>> I don't understand this.  So far as I know, the phrase "speed reading"
>> refers to various methods of reading much faster than most people read,
>> and is real but not exceptionally interesting.

> Afaik the idea is that you can read a novel at the speed of half a page
> a second or so and understand it to the same extent as people who'd read
> at a normal rate. Woody Allen joke: "I learned speed reading and
> read War&Peace"; - it involves Russia.

I dunno about that speed, but as I recall, my default reading speed for
English is about the range that people advertise in "speed reading"
courses, and I end up understanding text about as well as other
people do.

-s
-- 
Copyright 2010, all wrongs reversed.  Peter Seebach / usenet-nospam at seebs.net
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