Tabs vs Spaces
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I think it had to do with what a mechanical typewriter was able to reliably insert. Remember, the tab key didn't shift x spaces, it shifted to the next tab stop, and yes, these were physical stops in a mechanical typewriter. Since these old machines worked on a fixed width font of 8 characters per inch and the physical tab stops were one inch apart, a tab became associated with 8 characters.
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Quick survey... How many of you uses tabs vs spaces to indent your code?
If it's not broken, fix it until it is. Everything makes sense in someone's mind. Ya can't fix stupid.
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Quick survey... How many of you uses tabs vs spaces to indent your code?
If it's not broken, fix it until it is. Everything makes sense in someone's mind. Ya can't fix stupid.
I think this thread nicely illustrates why tabs should be used for indentation. You want 2, 4, 8 character indentation, fine. You want half inch indentation, fine. You want 2½ character indentation, %#*$ you, but sure. No one has to choose what is the "right" amount, everyone's editor will display it how they want.