Subj : Re: indenting
To   : comp.programming
From : mlimber
Date : Mon Sep 26 2005 07:16 am

Alf P. Steinbach wrote:
[snip]
> Some projects, e.g. Boost, have instead standardized on always using spaces.
> I think that's counter-productive.  Really, I hate code that uses spaces for
> indenting.  Ordinary navigation requires more key-presses.
[snip]

And I dislike code with tabs. :-P A space is always a space, but a tab
can be set to 2, 4, 8, or 42. And since tabs are more often than not
mixed with spaces, ugliness and impeded legibilty result when the next
person comes along to read the code and s/he has to figure out the
original programmer's tab size in order to get the code to line up
properly. Spaces avoid all that. As for the key-presses, most editors
support some sort of next-word keystroke (e.g., CTRL-Right arrow) that
make the number of spaces or tabs irrelevant while navigating, and such
editors also support automatic insertion of spaces when you hit tab to
make writing code just as quick.

[snip]
> Also, code using tab characters can alway be automatically converted to code
> using spaces, e.g., the Visual Studio editor does this, and it should always
> be done before posting code on Usenet or using it in an article, because of
> different tab size conventions; it's trivial to do and no problem.  Conversion
> of spaces code to code with tabs is however in general impossible to fully
> automate, although the mentioned editor attempts to do that, too: one example
> where it requires manual editing is right hand comment vertical line-up.
[snip]

Now it sounds like *you* are making the case for spaces!

Cheers! --M

.