C++ Keywords not Colored in Emacs

Question

I have been using emacs for a while for mainly python programming, and have started C++ coding with it. When I open a c++ file, it opens without problems with c++-mode. The background and foreground colors are normal for the theme I have with color-theme, but keywords and strings are not colored differently. Below is the code in my .emacs to initialize color-theme.

(add-to-list 'load-path "D:\\emacs\\color-theme-6.6.0")
(require 'color-theme)
(color-theme-initialize)
(setq color-theme-is-global t)
(color-theme-hober)

I have not put in any code for c++. Any ideas?

Edit: I tried turning off color-theme to see if at least then there would be some coloring, and there was not, even after ensuring font-lock-mode was on. Also, this is GNU Emacs 23.1.1

Answer 1

(font-lock-mode) should help (with non negative argument to make sure it's turned on)

Answer 2

Generally this should work straight out of the box on a standard install - to verify start emacs with the "-q" option to avoid loading stuff from your init file. I have verified this with a quick install (on XP Pro) of the offical 23.2 binaries. Here's the output: (apparently can't post images due to low reputation - the link is img444.imageshack.us/img444/2680/46117077.png).

If this displays code as you expect, then there's an issue with your init file - I suggest using the standard approach of commenting everything out and selectively adding things back in, until you come across the offending line(s).

Answer 3

Place the cursor over a keyword and do M-x describe-face. The face should be identified as font-lock-keyword-face and the description of the face given. At that point it should be easier to determine whether the keyword has the wrong face, or the face just has a default appearance. You could also double-check that font-lock-mode is on with describe-mode.

Answer 4

I finally got syntax highlighting by removing a folder called site-lisp from the folder d:/emacs. My Emacs installation is in d:/emacs/emacs-23.1, and somehow it was reading from these files. So, removing this folder forced Emacs to use the correct ones, I think.