[ratrocket]

To each their own. I quit using syntax highlighting about 10 years ago and won't ever go back (been programming for 25 years, vim/neovim user for 24 years). I just like it better, it works for me. It definitely does not make things "difficult for the sake of it" (for me). There are dozens of us! :)

(As to the rest: I use a pretty minimal set of plugins and I use the built in nvim C-o/C-p or C-x C-o/p "dumb" autocomplete. At least I think it's built in...)

[wycy]

How is no syntax highlighting better, specifically?

[ratrocket]

(To address sibling comment: If I were colorblind, I would lead with that in any conversation about syntax highlighting; I am not colorblind.)

To answer the question: it's a feeling, like lots of things in software development. I tried "no syntax highlighting", found that I liked it, and I no longer use syntax highlighting. To say "specifically" how it's "better"... I'm not even saying it's better. "I like no-syntax-highlighting" is the statement I'm making (which, when it comes to syntax highlighting, is a statement a lot of people have issues with). So, from my personal experience, I take issue with the statement that no-syntax-highlighting is making things "difficult for the sake of it".

Try this out for analogy: I ate Red Baron pizzas every Friday night for 15 years, then I heard about homemade pizza 10 years ago. I tried making homemade pizza. It was good! ("I tried it and liked it") Now I only eat homemade pizza on Fridays. How is homemade pizza specifically better? It's better because I like it more. That's all there is to it. It's a preference.

(For the analogy to work, you have to like or at some point have liked Red Baron frozen pizzas. I happen to like them... the analogy is flawed though, I admit!)

(Let me preempt criticism that I'm comparing Red Baron frozen pizzas to syntax highlighting. I am not. It's only about the preference, not the object of the preference.)

[bobnamob]

Not op, but in my case a lifetime of colourblindness has desensitised me to colour as an indicator.

I have my editor configured with zero highlighting for keywords and syntactic elements. Admittedly, I have compilation/lint/syntax/type check errors set to invert the erroneous block, black background white text.

Syntax and keyword highlighting is just noise given I’ve been trained by decades of colourblind unfriendly interfaces

[int_19h]

Syntax highlighting doesn't necessarily mean color, though. Using boldface to highlight keywords is another option that is traditional in some circles (e.g. Delphi has been doing that for 30 years now).

[b00ty4breakfast]

that's a very good reason to not use syntax highlighting. If that is what the other guys are dealing with, I withdraw my critique but I don't get the impression that is the case