One of the most immediately useful features in Equinox 5 for programmers will be Syntax Highlighting of all method language.
Syntax Highlighting is a process whereby different parts of the development code are automatically rendered in different colours. This means that, for example, comments are green, functions are red, keywords are blue, text between quotation marks are grey, and the rest of the text is black.
Syntax Highlighting is far more useful than it might at first sound. Essentially, it enables the validity of the code to be checked much more quickly - typically at first glance it is obvious when code has been written wrongly. For example, complex strings containing many quotation marks are now extremely easy to see as all text within them should be grey. Large multi-line expressions, such as ExecuteMacro statements, are also catered for.
Large procedure libraries and methods become much easier to analyse and work with, and it is also useful for more occasional developers, as the highlighting can serve as a useful check on spelling and structure of Equinox method language.
Related Links
Equinox 5 First Look: Pushing the Limits
Equinox 5 First Look: Application Translation
Equinox 5 First Look: Web Services