What font do you code in?

What font do you use for coding? Clearly the best typeface for coding is Curlz MT, but are there any others? I'm looking for readability and easy 1, l and 0, O distinction.

7 Comments

Lovecraft Cursive
Hahaha! Gives ol' Curlz a run for its money.
A font of wisdom, hoping that it helps.
This gives me an idea: Commented text automatically changes color; why not let the comment font automatically switch to something more compact and easy to read?
Yes, would love to use Victor Mono and get cursive italics in the comments!
https://rubjo.github.io/victor-mono/
Just realized Curlz MT was a joke. Kudos
Curlz MT is really the best, try it out

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Answers (9)

Star Strider
Star Strider on 27 Mar 2015

10 votes

I use Consolas (Windows) for Editor and Command Window fonts. It’s a fixed-width sans-serif font with a slant-through zero and easily recognisable letters and symbols. I don’t have Curlz MT on this machine, so I can’t compare them.
Trong Nguyen Van
Trong Nguyen Van on 4 Oct 2016

4 votes

I'm using Consolas with size 11. Because, i get used to coding with this font on Visual or CodeBlocks. My matlab doesn't support Curlz MT.
Jan
Jan on 13 Aug 2020

2 votes

Andale Mono and Bitstream Vera Sans Mono.

6 Comments

+1 for Bitstream Vera Sans Mono. I've been using that for a long time. Haven't seen Andale Mono. Might have to give it a look.
Just wondering. Why do you mention two different preferences? Why not just stick with one?
Jan
Jan on 16 Aug 2020
@Lex Beckham: On screens with a low resolution, I need a smaller font to keep the same number of lines in the window. Then I prefer Andale Mono. With a higher resolution Bitstream is my favourite.
These fonts don't seem to be in the default list, they need a custom installation right?
Yes! How can yo set this fonts in Matlab?
Install the fonts onyour computer. Under Windows there are 2 options: Install for the current user or for all users with admin privilegs. Matlab does not recognize fonts installed for the current user only, so choose option 2.

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Jaber Gharib
Jaber Gharib on 8 May 2018
The best ids Consolas I suppose
Carey Smith
Carey Smith on 13 Aug 2020
I prefer Lucida Console: You can tell the differences between 1l & I, and 0 and O.
Plus it's mon-spaced, so code indentation lines up and number arrays line up.
John D'Errico
John D'Errico on 13 Aug 2020
Edited: John D'Errico on 16 Aug 2020
Personally, I like a font that puts a slash of some sort through the zeros. Without that, the zero and uppercase O seem too close to me, too easy to mistake. You also need fonts with a serif, as that really helps to distinguish betweel a lower case l, the number 1, and an upper case I, even lower case i.
Monaco is my choice. And monospaced is really important for coding. Never program in a proportionally spaced font.

3 Comments

I was going to disagree about the need for a serif font as I prefer Bitstream Vera Sans Mono. Looking at it more carefully convinces me that this is not really a sans serif font. It just uses them where they are really needed for character differentiation, rather than for 'decoration'. Actually it has a lot more serifs than I would expect (for example the lower case i). It is easy to read though. It does have good differentiation betweeen O and 0 (a dot in the middle of the zero).
Of course monospace is essential.
I went back, and after a fair amount of play with every choice of font I had, I find my preference to be strongly just plain old Monaco. Monospaced. Nice distinction between the letters and numbers in question.
I have a fond place in my heart for a crispy 9pt bitmapped Monaco; that said, there are a number of fonts called Monaco that visually have nothing to do with that or each other. I just use whatever the "Monospaced" alias points to (seems to be DejaVu Sans Mono 10). I might like a dot or crossbar on 0, but I'll survive.

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IronDay
IronDay on 24 Oct 2020
Fonts: Seorgio UI Plain
size: 12

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