Steve Lamb <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > I set tab width to 4, align at 6. Tab + 2 spaces. Person sets his tabs > to 8 the line is 10 spaces out, 4 spaces too far. That's why people insist on > a tab width of 8. If tabs were immutable like that mixing tabs and spaces > wouldn't be a problem. It's not so it is.
My proposal was to use tabs and spaces in a way so that this does not happen. Consider the following piece of pidgin C: if (some_condition) { if (another_condition) { foo(a, b); /* ---->____| */ In the comment line I have tried to indicate how tabs and spaces are used for the "b" line: the line starts with two tabs, one for each level of nesting. After this come spaces. This means that, regardless of the tab width you choose, you will always see the b below the a. If the function name was foobar instead of foo, the "b" line would still start with two tabs, but then you'd have 7 instead of 4 spaces. I tried to coin the term "indentation" for the whitespace due to the nesting level, and the term "alignment" for the spaces that make sure that "b" and "a" line up. And my proposal was to use tabs for indentation and spaces for alignment. If this was confusing, then please accept my apologies. It goes without saying that the nice property of giving code that looks good in any tab width setting is lost as soon as you violate that rule of using tabs and spaces. Kai -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]