Im not the Java guy but since you said:
What I am looking for though is any literature / journals / books / articles which explain the process of writing a syntax highlighter.
Here are some .NET links from codeproject:
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/edit/SyntaxHighlighting.aspx (Reusable Control) http://www.codeproject.com/KB/edit/SyntaxRichTextBox.aspx (Silverlight) http://www.codeproject.com/KB/silverlight/SL2TextBoxWsSynParser.aspx
Here are some .NET Intellisense links: http://www.codeproject.com/KB/combobox/JGIntelli.aspx http://www.codeproject.com/KB/cs/diy-intellisense.aspx
you might be able toI couldn't find some javaany Java links for your question on codeproject or maybe guys on that article talking about a java version