mjhjmtu

Is there a plugin/xml file or any way to extend the capability of Kate to highlight Markdown?

I am really comfortable with Kate (using version 15.12.3) and I use it to write logs. For plain-text readibility I use Markdown, since it is a Markup language that (in my opinion) doesn't need compilation to look pretty. However, Markdown-syntax-highlighting helps!

Luckily, Kate supports some basic syntax highlighting, like highlighting headers (when using #), italic (using * or _), indents, inline code (using backticks) and lists (using - or 1. / 2. / ...).

However, some interesting features are missing, e.g. like bold text (using ** or __) highlighting headers in underline style:

h1: my header
=============

h2: my sub header
-----------------

and most importantly for me the syntax highlighting without indent, using backticks:

a syntax block in markdown can be started with indents (4 spaces):

 code()

but also with 3 backticks:
```
code()
highlight.me
```

only in the backtick syntax we can use a notation 
that some tools convert to language specific highlighting

```
public class HelloWorld 
 public static void main(String args) 
 System.out.println("Hello, World");
 

```

Since I use this in plain-text markdown to write code that I can copy and paste without indents, I'd love if Kate would be able to recognize this as code. So are there syntax highlighting extensions for enhanced Markdown support in Markdown?