Re: [xwiki-devs] [Proposal] Evaluate javascript syntax highlighting as alternative to Jython/Pygments

Lately I have been playing with a few different javascript syntax highlighting libraries. One which I think shows some promise is google-code-prettify, used for highlighting on google code (Apache license.) Advantages of javascript highlighting: + We could remove Pygments and Jython, Jython weighs in at 8.3MB making it the largest jar in the lib folder, Pygments adds another 364K. + I understand Jython/Pygments has been responsible for recent out of permgen memory errors. + Shifts work from server to client. + Adding a js syntax highlighting library to the svn repository allows us to patch it to support xwiki syntax (switch lexers when macros are detected.) + Relatively easy compared to other performance boosters. Disadvantages: - Some users do not use Javascript. - Highlighting may be slow on old computers when lots of code is displayed. - Removing Jythion from the default build will add a step to upgrading for wiki operators who are using the {{python}} macro. - Adds another js file to download which hurts page load speed until a js bundling plan is in place.

If there is significant interest, I could put up a comparison page on the incubator. Caleb