Embodiments relate to incorporating supplemental information into a code editor's editing view that may make the code more understandable to those not familiar or comfortable with the code. The editor receives adornments that may be translations or semantic equivalents of constructs already in the code. The editor adds the adornments to an editing view for editing the source code. The adornments are inserted into lines of the source code displayed in the editing view and have some of the appearance of the source code in the editing view. The adornments are passive with respect to the source code; they are not necessarily compiled or saved. The adornments may be tokens provided by a compiler and/or an integrated development environment. The editor may apply heuristics or rules to determine which adornments are to be used and where they will be inserted.