On 2002.11.11, Jerry Asher <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> But I'd certainly like to.  I'm not going to ask you a major religious
> question about why MySQL when you could be using ...X, but okay,
> please forgive my asking a minor religious question....  Why tabs?

I think I answered in another email.

Tabs allow the /reader/ of the code to display the code in a way that's
easiest for them to read.  Using spaces forces the reader of the code to
read it the way the author intended for it to be read.

In projects where the author and the reader are always the same person,
this isn't a problem.  The more people you add, the higher the
probability that someone's optimal code formatting does /not/ match the
author's optimal code formatting.  Using tabs eliminates this issue.
Using spaces makes it an issue.

I find that the few folks I've met who prefer spaces over tabs in source
code haven't had to work with other folks with varying preferences
(well, preferences that differ from their own).

I do admit that I prefer pair programming with other vi-saavy folks ...
I'd dread having to do real work in some other editor.  ;-)  From the
days when I used to use emacs, 50% of my time was spent working while
50% of my time was spent managing my emacs environment.  While it's nice
to be able to customize "just about anything" by "writing just a little
bit of code" ... I'd rather be "writing just a little bit of code" for
stuff that I'm getting paid to write, not to configure my editor ...

-- Dossy

--
Dossy Shiobara                       mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Panoptic Computer Network             web: http://www.panoptic.com/
  "He realized the fastest way to change is to laugh at your own
    folly -- then you can let go and quickly move on." (p. 70)

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