---
author: ''
category: ''
date: 2010/02/16 19:20
description: ''
link: ''
priority: ''
slug: BB871
tags: open source, programming, pyqt, python, qt
title: Yak Shavings for February 16, 2010
type: text
updated: 2010/02/16 19:20
url_type: ''
---
yak shaving
	(idiomatic) Any apparently useless activity which, by allowing you to overcome intermediate difficulties, allows you to solve a larger problem.

A while ago, I wrote how I `implemented a generic syntax highlighter for PyQt using Pygments <//ralsina.me/weblog/posts/BB832.html>`_.

I got a request for such a feature in Marave, so I digged that code and... it's freaking useless. It's just too slow for reasonable use.

So, that yak's hair is all grown up again, and I just got this new pair of scissors!

The goal is a way to highlight syntax in a QPlainTextEdit that:

* Doesn't require programming to add a new highlighter
* Doesn't require programming to add a new color scheme
* Doesn't require me to spend a year writing highlighters for existing languages
* Is fast enough

A quick google shows that for C++ you can use `Source highlight qt <http://srchiliteqt.sourceforge.net/>`_ which is based on `GNU source highlight <http://www.gnu.org/software/src-highlite/>`_.

Alas, no python binding that I could find. So, let's write one!

Here it is: http://marave.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/marave/highlight/

And here's a screenshot of the demo program running, showing itself in its entirety:

.. raw:: html

   <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ralsina/4363290278/sizes/o/"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4004/4363290278_79282f4012_m.jpg"></a>

You can create a color scheme using CSS, a language definition is a text file, there are a bazillion already written, it seems to be fast enough.

So, another yak shaved, another feature (not finished!) for `Marave <http://marave.googlecode.com>`_