editor wars

[Robert Virding]

daniel.neri@REDACTED (Daniel =?iso-8859-1?q?N=E9ri?=) writes:
>"Vance Shipley" <vances@REDACTED> writes:
>
>> When I opened this can of worms recently I had no idea it was an
>> emacs thing, although I probably should have.
>
>A tab is 8 spaces wide. IMO, any attempt to change this will only lead
>to agony, if not for yourself, then for someone else trying to browse
>your code with a different editor/tool than you.
>
>If you want smaller indents, just use plain spaces.

It depends what you mean by 'tab'.  If you mean typing the TAB
character then that usually means "tab to the next tab stop" where the
next tab stop is application dependant.  The TAB character in a file
also means "tab to the next tab stop" where the next tab stop is
commonly is the next 8th character position.

Some editors mix the two meanings and change the tabbing by inserting
tab characters into the file and changing the meaning of the tab
character.  This is a big lose as it is not portable, even to the same
editor with a different set up.

Emacs, and many other editors, keep the two separate.  Pressing the
TAB key moves to the next tab stop by inserting a suitable number of
TAB characters and spaces keeping the "standard" meaning of the TAB
character.  This is sensible and portable.

        Robert
--
Robert Virding                          Tel: +46 (0)8 545 55 017
Alteon Web Systems                      Email: rv@REDACTED
S:t Eriksgatan 44                       WWW: http://www.bluetail.com/~rv
SE-112 34 Stockholm, SWEDEN
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