1 # Context Coloring [![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/jacksonrayhamilton/context-coloring.png?branch=develop)](https://travis-ci.org/jacksonrayhamilton/context-coloring)
4 <img alt="Screenshot of JavaScript code highlighted by context." src="screenshot.png" title="Screenshot">
7 Highlights code according to function context.
9 - Code in the global scope is one color. Code in functions within the global
10 scope is a different color, and code within such functions is another color,
12 - Identifiers retain the color of the scope in which they are declared.
14 Lexical scope information at-a-glance can assist a programmer in understanding
15 the overall structure of a program. It can help to curb nasty bugs like name
16 shadowing. A rainbow can indicate excessive complexity. State change within a
17 closure is easily monitored.
19 By default, Context Coloring still highlights comments and strings
20 syntactically. It is still easy to differentiate code from non-code, and strings
21 cannot be confused for variables.
23 This coloring strategy is probably more useful than conventional syntax
24 highlighting. Highlighting keywords can help one to detect spelling errors, but
25 a [linter][] could also spot those errors, and if integrated with [flycheck][],
26 an extra spot opens up in your editing toolbelt.
28 Give context coloring a try; you may find that it *changes the way you write
33 - Supported languages: JavaScript
34 - Light and dark (customizable) color schemes.
35 - Very fast for files under 1000 lines.
41 JavaScript language support requires either [js2-mode][], or
42 [Node.js 0.10+][node] and the [scopifier][] executable.
45 npm install -g scopifier
50 - `M-x package-refresh-contents RET`
51 - `M-x package-install RET context-coloring RET`
55 - Clone this repository.
59 git clone https://github.com/jacksonrayhamilton/context-coloring.git
62 - Byte-compile the package for improved speed.
69 - Add the following to your `~/.emacs` file:
72 (add-to-list 'load-path "~/.emacs.d/context-coloring")
73 (require 'context-coloring)
74 (add-hook 'js2-mode-hook 'context-coloring-mode)
79 Built-in themes are accessible via `context-coloring-load-theme`. Available
80 themes are: `monokai`, `solarized`, `tango` and `zenburn`.
83 (require 'context-coloring)
84 (context-coloring-load-theme 'zenburn)
87 You can define your own themes, too:
90 (context-coloring-define-theme
107 To add support for a new language, write a "scopifier" for it, and define a new
108 coloring dispatch strategy with `context-coloring-define-dispatch`. Then the
109 plugin should handle the rest.
111 A "scopifier" is a CLI program that reads a buffer's contents from stdin and
112 writes a JSON array of numbers to stdout. Every three numbers in the array
113 represent a range of color. For instance, if I fed the following string of
114 JavaScript code to a scopifier,
117 var a = function () {};
120 then the scopifier would produce the following array:
126 Where, for every three numbers, the first number is a 1-indexed start [point][],
127 the second number is an exclusive end point, and the third number is a scope
128 level. The result of applying level 0 coloring to the range [1, 24) and then
129 applying level 1 coloring to the range [9, 23) would result in the following
133 <img alt="Screenshot of ranges [1, 24) and [9, 23)." src="scopifier.png" title="Screenshot">
136 If there is an abstract syntax tree generator for your language, you can walk
137 the syntax tree, find variables and scopes, and build their positions and levels
138 into an array like the one above.
140 For example, a Ruby scopifier might be defined and implemented like this:
143 (context-coloring-define-dispatch
147 :command "/home/username/scopifier")
156 print scopifier ARGF.read
159 When a `--version` argument is passed, a scopifier should print its version
160 number and exit. For installable scopifiers, this allows context-coloring to
161 check for updates as needed.
163 [linter]: http://jshint.com/about/
164 [flycheck]: http://www.flycheck.org/
165 [zenburn]: http://github.com/bbatsov/zenburn-emacs
166 [point]: http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/elisp/Point.html
167 [js2-mode]: https://github.com/mooz/js2-mode
168 [node]: http://nodejs.org/download/
169 [scopifier]: https://github.com/jacksonrayhamilton/scopifier
170 [load path]: https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Lisp-Libraries.html