[OT] Spaces/tabs (Was: simple display (from: GUI library for D))
Nick Sabalausky
a at a.a
Mon Apr 11 13:09:43 PDT 2011
"Jonathan M Davis" <jmdavisProg at gmx.com> wrote in message
news:mailman.3371.1302508910.4748.digitalmars-d at puremagic.com...
>> Jonathan M Davis Wrote:
>> > Personally, I think that it's _horrible_ to use tabs
>>
>> Why would one fear tabs?
>
> They change depending on your editor settings. Indenting gets screwed up
> if
> tabs and spaces are mixed. It's just plain annoying to have an indentation
> of
> multiple spaces which isn't actually multiple spaces.
>
> The biggest problem though is that it just totally screws with indentation
> if
> tabs and spaces are mixed and that invariably happens.
>
You're drawing a completely invalid conclusion from that, because it works
the same both ways. If I have a bunch of code indented with spaces, all it
takes is a few things to be indented with tabs instead to create the *exact
same screwup*. You've chosen tabs as the villian completely arbitrarily.
Also I find your argument that the mixup is significantly more likely when
tabs are used for indentation to be extremely questionable. You admit
yourself that you've rarely come across situations where tabs are the
default. So how would you know? Based on that *one* piece of anecdotal
evidence? And even that can be suspect, because if you were involved, we
know you're accustomed to using spaces for indentation, so that could very
well have been the reason for the mixup.
I have worked with code that used spaces as indentation on various
occasions, and I always did wind up accidentally sticking some tabs in
there. So I know first hand that the idea of the mixups not happening with
space-indentation is a load of crap. They're equally likely.
And as far as needing to use spaces in code anyway: That's not remotely a
problem. People know damn well the difference between a space and
indentation. Fuck, if MS Word users can figure it out, so can programmers.
> Tabs serve no useful purpose IMHO.
>
Well, IMO, using spaces for indentation serves no useful purpose. At least
tabs actually *mean* alignment and indentation. Spaces don't and never have.
Plus, what's the use of being able place the cursor at arbtrary points
within the "4 spaces" (or 8 spaces, or whatever)? All it does is make me
have to press left/right-arrow-key a whole hell of a lot more (which I
really do find to be a PITA). And makes it easier to accidentally end up
with a messed up indentation of +/- 1 space somewhere. Spaces for
indentation is just a misuse and a kludge to force on each other the
idiologies of how large indentation should be.
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