Lambda the Ultimate

This paper fits into the discussion about being more scientific about programming language design, or in this case editor design. I particularly liked figure 6.

The impact of syntax colouring on program comprehension

Abstract:

We present an empirical study investigating the effect of syntax highlighting on program
comprehension and its interaction with programming experience. Quantitative data was captured
from 10 human subjects using an eye tracker during a controlled, randomised, within-subjects
study. We observe that syntax highlighting significantly improves task completion time, and that
this effect becomes weaker with an increase in programming experience.