Let's try and figure out what a highlighting API could look like

highlight_api.rb

class EditView
  def highlight(offset, length, colour)
  end

  def clear_all_highlights
  end

  def clear_highlights_on_line(line_num)
  end
end

object_oriented_version.rb

class EditView
  # returns a highlight object
  def create_highlight(offset, length, colour, transient=false)
    
  end

  # returns an array of all currently visible highlight objects
  def highlights
  end
end

class Highlight
  attr_reader :offset, :length, :colour

  # removes this highlight from the editview
  def remove
  end
end