>On the whole I'm really put off by the aesthetics of programming. The default still seems to be very "gamer": dark mode, neon everything—I can practically smell the Mtn Dew through my screen sometimes.
Oh, come on... Look at the original terminals from the old days. Dark background with green or amber text. Dark terminals are the normal thing, nothing to do with gamers. My guess is it was less power to only light up the text parts instead of the inverse. Light themes, on a computer, seem unnatural in the way they force as much light as possible on. They're trying to emulate paper, which is white by default, but I don't think that should be considered normal on a computer.
1. I think you're right about power. Even with PCs the folk wisdom during the CRT era was that having a black background would save energy.
2. Those early terminals were monochromatic though. They were stark and utilitarian, not the Vegas-ass colors some of my coworkers are rocking.
3. Paper is what I aim for. I have read black text all my life, including the textbooks that taught me to program, so it makes a lot of sense to work like this as well. I don't go full white though; Plan 9's Acme theme is the acme of palettes to me.
Oh, come on... Look at the original terminals from the old days. Dark background with green or amber text. Dark terminals are the normal thing, nothing to do with gamers. My guess is it was less power to only light up the text parts instead of the inverse. Light themes, on a computer, seem unnatural in the way they force as much light as possible on. They're trying to emulate paper, which is white by default, but I don't think that should be considered normal on a computer.