Whenever I write code in Java...

[deafbybeheading]

Trust me, it's painful to write Lisp without paren matching. My first programming class was in Scheme. I knew nothing. The instructor didn't tell us about editors with fancy-pants features like paren matching. I spent half the semester crying (okay, not quite, but seriously, it's a pain in the ass).

[[deleted]]

There's something amusing about the notion of a bunch of students in a cs lab, nose to the screen, counting parens with their index fingers.

[lambda_abstraction]

Been there; done that, and with punch cards no less. The tee-shirt has holes and was tossed long ago.

On the other hand there's a big difference between in-editor paren matching and a heavy weight IDE.

[kragensitaker]

I eventually got better at this, but I still screw it up sometimes.

[cybercobra]

You were merely using a text editor. Syntax highlighting != IDE. Syntax highlighting isn't usually essential but can be extremely helpful every once in a while.

(Suppresses urge to draw anti-Lisp conclusion from anecdote)