[plt-scheme] Parentheses and color

On Jul 3, 2007, at 7:34 PM, Eli Barzilay wrote:

> On Jul  4, Jean-Pierre Lozi wrote:
>>> It doesn't provide any useful information.  Looks like the
>>> intention is to make it easy to match parenthesis by color, but
>>> when there are as many as you have in Scheme code it becomes just
>>> noise.
>>
>> I think it does. Having to use the mouse to see which parenthesis
>> closes which can be a real pain, especially when you have so many of
>> them.
>
> One of the first rules of hacking (IMO) is "get to know your
> keyboard".  Leave the mouse for end users...

Jean-Pierre is saying that a DrScheme user has to move the cursor
to a parenthesis to find out which one is matching. So the "mouse"
part is just a "lingo" (kind of like typo, but in Hebrew English :).


> But that's beside the point -- if you need colors to know where the
> parens match, then something is wrong.  Having consistent indentation
> means that you don't even need to look at the parenthesis.  (I think
> that I could manage with all my parens being invisible.)


Having said that, I second Eli's comment. I do use drscheme a lot.
I have used it longer for everything for longer even than Robby,
though I suspect he has now logged many more hours in it than I
have.

I hardly ever need to look at parentheses or move the cursor
to the right point. If I do, it's to re-close parens, but that
is it.

You need to let parens become second nature, even in Dr. -- Matthias