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  4. Tabs versus spaces: Spaces won

Tabs versus spaces: Spaces won

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  • P PIEBALDconsult

    The only place I worked that had an actual standard, the standard was four SPACEs, so I got used to that. Where I am now, all the existing code uses two SPACEs, so I adapted. Now my four SPACE indents look huge. :sigh:

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    Clifford Nelson
    wrote on last edited by
    #12

    Agreed

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    • P PIEBALDconsult

      OK, now look at your code in Notepad. Not everyone uses an IDE.

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      R Giskard Reventlov
      wrote on last edited by
      #13

      PIEBALDconsult wrote:

      Not everyone uses an IDE.

      Amateurs. Seriously? Creating complex, feature rich applications/web sites with notepad? Not practical. Perhaps with something like Notepad++ but Windows Notepad? No, definitely not.

      "If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me

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      • M MarqW

        I hate all the defaults of tabs space of 4 and 8... I mean 8!? Come on, you're half way across the screen. 2 is the magic number :-D

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        Lutoslaw
        wrote on last edited by
        #14

        Maybe 2 is magic, but 3 is more Freudy. Seriously, I got used to 4 which is often a default setting. But 8 looks ridiculus to me too.

        Greetings - Jacek

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        • J jschell

          PIEBALDconsult wrote:

          OK, now look at your code in Notepad.
           
          Not everyone uses an IDE.

          Are you suggesting that programmers that don't use IDEs use Notepad? Certainly isn't the case for me. Certainly isn't the case for other developers that I know that don't use IDEs.

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          PIEBALDconsult
          wrote on last edited by
          #15

          That is two separate statements.

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          • C Clifford Nelson

            Actually they have no reason to worry about that since that is a personal preference. Probably the best developer on my team was adamant about using tabs instead of spaces. Then he can use whatever he wants, and does not care what other developers are using.

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            Lost User
            wrote on last edited by
            #16

            So what happens whenshe edits your code, or you edit his?

            MVVM# - See how I did MVVM my way ___________________________________________ Man, you're a god. - walterhevedeich 26/05/2011 .\\axxx (That's an 'M')

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            • R R Giskard Reventlov

              PIEBALDconsult wrote:

              Not everyone uses an IDE.

              Amateurs. Seriously? Creating complex, feature rich applications/web sites with notepad? Not practical. Perhaps with something like Notepad++ but Windows Notepad? No, definitely not.

              "If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me

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              PIEBALDconsult
              wrote on last edited by
              #17

              mark merrens wrote:

              Amateurs.

              Contrarywise; newbies use IDEs and don't realize that there are other ways. Experienced developers know that there are several ways to skin most cats.

              mark merrens wrote:

              Creating complex, feature rich applications/web sites with notepad?

              I didn't say that.

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              • T Terrence Dorsey

                Tabs versus spaces: Spaces won[^] (source: Los Techies)
                Why? Because since at least Visual Studio 2005, the default has been spaces.

                "Do you like tabs in Visual Studio? I do too! But I gave up the tabs versus spaces argument, and so should you."

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                Lost User
                wrote on last edited by
                #18

                Gawd! All these 'should it be 2 spaces or 4' arguments can be done away with by using tabs-then you decide how wide you want a tab to be when you are editing, while your colleague can use a different value - everyone is happy!

                MVVM# - See how I did MVVM my way ___________________________________________ Man, you're a god. - walterhevedeich 26/05/2011 .\\axxx (That's an 'M')

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                • R R Giskard Reventlov

                  PIEBALDconsult wrote:

                  Not everyone uses an IDE.

                  Amateurs. Seriously? Creating complex, feature rich applications/web sites with notepad? Not practical. Perhaps with something like Notepad++ but Windows Notepad? No, definitely not.

                  "If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me

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                  AspDotNetDev
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #19

                  We at my company often use the web editor in Umbraco to edit pages. It works best with spaces. Because of editors like this, much of the rest of our code follows that same convention so we don't have to switch things up.

                  Thou mewling ill-breeding pignut!

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                  • L Lost User

                    So what happens whenshe edits your code, or you edit his?

                    MVVM# - See how I did MVVM my way ___________________________________________ Man, you're a god. - walterhevedeich 26/05/2011 .\\axxx (That's an 'M')

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                    Clifford Nelson
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #20

                    That is the reason for going with tabs. If spaces are used, then the number of spaces specified will appear for everyone no matter what the user sets his tab spacing. When the person does editing with tabs as an option, then there will be a mixture of tabs and spaces, and it will look different on applications with different settings. When a person does editing with a different tab setting with spaces, then still have the problem. With tabs set for everyone, then each person can have what they like, and it will appear correct on thier screen. Thats why there is an issue that this forum was discussing. Set Option for Text Editor for C# to "Keep Tabs" and then each developer can have whatever indent size they like, and everybody is happy.

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                    • C Clifford Nelson

                      That is the reason for going with tabs. If spaces are used, then the number of spaces specified will appear for everyone no matter what the user sets his tab spacing. When the person does editing with tabs as an option, then there will be a mixture of tabs and spaces, and it will look different on applications with different settings. When a person does editing with a different tab setting with spaces, then still have the problem. With tabs set for everyone, then each person can have what they like, and it will appear correct on thier screen. Thats why there is an issue that this forum was discussing. Set Option for Text Editor for C# to "Keep Tabs" and then each developer can have whatever indent size they like, and everybody is happy.

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                      PIEBALDconsult
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #21

                      Clifford Nelson wrote:

                      each developer can have whatever indent size they like

                      That depends on the tool. SPACEs are always consistent.

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                      • C Clifford Nelson

                        That is the reason for going with tabs. If spaces are used, then the number of spaces specified will appear for everyone no matter what the user sets his tab spacing. When the person does editing with tabs as an option, then there will be a mixture of tabs and spaces, and it will look different on applications with different settings. When a person does editing with a different tab setting with spaces, then still have the problem. With tabs set for everyone, then each person can have what they like, and it will appear correct on thier screen. Thats why there is an issue that this forum was discussing. Set Option for Text Editor for C# to "Keep Tabs" and then each developer can have whatever indent size they like, and everybody is happy.

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                        Lost User
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #22

                        Egg-sactly

                        MVVM# - See how I did MVVM my way ___________________________________________ Man, you're a god. - walterhevedeich 26/05/2011 .\\axxx (That's an 'M')

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                        • L Lost User

                          Gawd! All these 'should it be 2 spaces or 4' arguments can be done away with by using tabs-then you decide how wide you want a tab to be when you are editing, while your colleague can use a different value - everyone is happy!

                          MVVM# - See how I did MVVM my way ___________________________________________ Man, you're a god. - walterhevedeich 26/05/2011 .\\axxx (That's an 'M')

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                          PIEBALDconsult
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #23

                          _Maxxx_ wrote:

                          you decide how wide you want a tab to be when you are editing

                          That depends on the tool. Have you tried setting the tabs on a VT100 or emulator? There are historical reasons for using SPACEs. If you insist on TABs you'd better hope to never encounter code from last century.

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                          • P PIEBALDconsult

                            _Maxxx_ wrote:

                            you decide how wide you want a tab to be when you are editing

                            That depends on the tool. Have you tried setting the tabs on a VT100 or emulator? There are historical reasons for using SPACEs. If you insist on TABs you'd better hope to never encounter code from last century.

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                            Lost User
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #24

                            PIEBALDconsult wrote:

                            That depends on the tool.

                            Yes, it does. And if you are using stone age tools, then sure, your particular standards will vary (6 character variable names, all upper case etc.) but we're talking standards here, not archaeology.

                            PIEBALDconsult wrote:

                            Have you tried setting the tabs on a VT100

                            yes, I have. not for a long time, but yes, I have.

                            PIEBALDconsult wrote:

                            here are historical reasons for using SPACEs.

                            Again, yes there are, and if your shop needs to edit code using tools that can't display tabs, then obviously your standards should be not to use tabs. if you're shop uses black and white (or black and green, or even black and amber) text monitors, then you better not be using any sort of colorisation either.

                            PIEBALDconsult wrote:

                            If you insist on TABs you'd better hope to never encounter code from last century.

                            why? If I need to edit code that does not allow the use of tabs, then standards are a rather moot point! If it is code that didn't use tabs when it was written well, I have a choice - live with it or convert to tabs (there's a rather neat VS tool that will do it for you) in short, there are advantages to using tabs (personal preference of layout is easy to achieve with minimal effort, less keytrokes) that, I think, make it an obvious standard, unless in an individual's circumstance it is not possible (e.g. you need to edit the code using vi) in which case it is not possible to use the superior method.

                            MVVM# - See how I did MVVM my way ___________________________________________ Man, you're a god. - walterhevedeich 26/05/2011 .\\axxx (That's an 'M')

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                            • P PIEBALDconsult

                              Clifford Nelson wrote:

                              each developer can have whatever indent size they like

                              That depends on the tool. SPACEs are always consistent.

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                              Lost User
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #25

                              not with a proportional font...

                              MVVM# - See how I did MVVM my way ___________________________________________ Man, you're a god. - walterhevedeich 26/05/2011 .\\axxx (That's an 'M')

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                              • L Lost User

                                Egg-sactly

                                MVVM# - See how I did MVVM my way ___________________________________________ Man, you're a god. - walterhevedeich 26/05/2011 .\\axxx (That's an 'M')

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                                Clifford Nelson
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #26

                                Tabs win where people pay attention. Very easy to convince people to go with tabs. Should be the default.

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                                • P PIEBALDconsult

                                  Clifford Nelson wrote:

                                  each developer can have whatever indent size they like

                                  That depends on the tool. SPACEs are always consistent.

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                                  C Offline
                                  Clifford Nelson
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #27

                                  My groups have had problems when spaces are selected and people have different indent settings. Then you get a real mix of indents which have to be fixed by cntl-K cntl-D. Just go with tabs/

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