On 05/10/18 21:48, ts9...@gmail.com wrote:
I am new to Python programming but have significant SQL and C experience. My simple question
is,"Why not standardize Python indentations to 3 spaces instead of 4 in order to avoid
potential programming errors associated with using "TAB" instead of 4 spaces?"
Thank you for the suggestion, Thomas. Unfortunately I think it's a
perfect example of something that was being discussed elsewhere, the
well-intentioned name change that actually makes things worse in the
long run.
I think the most likely outcome of switching to 3 space indentation,
which we could do right now with no need to change a single thing, is
that it would all seem to work perfectly well for a while. It wouldn't
take long for people to get irritated with actually typing three spaces
though, and to reprogram their Tab keys to three space tab stops. Once
that happens, it's only a matter of time before the people who believe
that Tabs should give you actual Tab characters do the same, and lo and
behold you are back where you started but with 3-space tab stops as well
as 4-space tab stops.
Why do I think that's what would happen? Because that's how we got
4-space tab stops in the first place. The original de facto standard
was for 8-space tab stops (see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tab_key#Tab_characters for some
background). 8 characters on a 132-character line printer isn't that
much. 8 characters on an 80 column monitor is quite a long way, on the
other hand. People started using four spaces as a more reasonable size,
used the Tab key for convenience and eventually ended up with the unholy
mess we know and love today.
Fortunately 2-space tabbing never attracted the attention of the
tab-character purists, or we'd be in an even worse situation :-)
I've watched this sort of thing happen in too many different arenas over
the years, most obviously with my father's job. He worked with disabled
people, and changing terms used to refer to them never once got rid of
the associated prejudices. This doesn't seem to be an easy thing to
hear particularly when it's associated with something emotive like the
master/slave debate, but changing terms buys you at best a couple of
months free of previous associations. Then the old associations catch
up, and usually bring some new friends with them.
Changing indent sizes is falling into the same trap as changing
terminology, I'm afraid. It's an obvious, well-intentioned thought, but
it won't actually change anything for the better. Thank you for
bringing it up, though.
--
Rhodri James *-* Kynesim Ltd
--
https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
