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I'm not a big fonts person, but when I found Bitsteam Vera Sans Mono I knew I loved it:

http://img376.imageshack.us/img376/1897/picture68gr5.png

It just looks fantastic to me — I simply don't get the attraction to fonts which look like they came directly from a 1970's typewriter! :)

(good anti-aliasing on OSX helps too...)

If you're on OS X and like Vera, you might take a look a Panic Sans, included in the app bundle of Coda. It's a tweaked version Vera Sans Mono. I can't put my finger on what they tweaked, but it's been my preference for some time now.
Linux: Liberation Mono (already in your distro as 'liberation-fonts'). See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberation_fonts

Windows: Consolas (install the Word 2007 viewer and you get it for free).

I have been using verdana for two years now and I love it.I also use black on grey background, so my editor looks much like these comments.
Wait. You code in a sans-serif non-fixed-width font!?
Yes. I guess it was Bjarne who convinced me to try it (The C++ Programming Language book was set with a variable width font). I find it pleasing to the eye and the sacrifice is .. well, what? Indenting still works and I don't do the block-style formatted comments etc.
He convinced me for presentation, but I still code in a monospaced font.
It's a really good point -- not since punched cards & F77 has column number meant anything...

So why the monospaced font (I'm guilty of this as well)? Maybe it just sets our minds up for reading code instead of prose?

Most programmer's fonts are sans-serif - eg

* the Bitstream Vera Sans Mono in Linux distro terminals

* Default terminal.app font in OS X

* Powershell / Visual Studio use Consolas in Windows

Those silly bars on the end of your typewriter font distract from the true shape of the character.

Agreed re: variable width being unusual.

Clean sans serif, monospaced.

Consistent baseline.

Distinguished forms (i.e., 0/O, S/$, (/{, 1/l, etc.).

Good weighting at various sizes.

Agree with these criteria. I personally like also some "airiness" so the Bitsteam Vera Sans Mono mentioned seems a bit too compact for me, but the Liberation fonts were a nice surprise.

Personal favorites include Andale Mono, Dina and Consolas (Inconsolata is sometimes adequate except it doesn't seem to scale well to different sizes). For some reason I've always used Crisp for javascript, even if it too does not scale well at all, and is in fact too small for my tired eyes.

imo, monospaced and something i dont have to think about

  -*-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-18-*-*-*-*-*-*
(comment deleted)
One where __ looks like two underscores and not a single line.
Honestly, I think Droid Sans Mono is my favorite. so clean