Odd, I always use 2 spaces, and haven't really heard 4 was standard. I don't keep up much with those things, though :)
Tabs are certainly allowed. There is a potential difficulty in mixing tabs and spaces in the same file, since it is unclear how many spaces go into a tab, so there is potential for ambiguity. The WingIDE notices the file's indentation style and helps keep it straight. When debugging, I sometimes get a warning because the standard python libraries sometimes use different standards, and I have Wing setup to warn me in those cases. The WingIDE lets you choose which style to use. If you press tab, it tabs to the next potential spot, semi-intelligently - not just the next tab marker. Similar with backspace. I think Wing has done a great job in simplifying the tab/spaces difficulties, but they have quite a sophisticated algorithm for it - more complicated than ideally would be necessary, but it does eliminate the problem. -dp- On Nov 29, 2005, at 11:40 AM, Chris Barker wrote: > Louis Pecora wrote: > >> You hold down the option key while selecting, but you cannot do this >> in the soft wrap mode. You have to set the window to hard wrap at >> some column number. If you have the BBEdit manual, you can find more >> info around page 52 or just look in the index. > > thanks. > > >> What the heck were they (Guido?) thinking when they used 4 spaces as >> the one true mode of indentation for Python? > > I have no clue. It was a bad idea, from the beginning, to allow mixed > tabs+spaces. (I still don't understand why that hasn't been completely > deprecated). > >> I would think that TAB would be infinitely better and avoid the >> problems you point out that probably plague a lot of editors when >> doing Python code. > > I agree. Tabs would be easier in most cases, but: > >> And many editors allow you to set the size of the >> TAB (e.g. 2 spaces in size if you think 4 looks too large -- I do). > > Well, that is an issue. I think there is a trade off between people > making their own choice about what things should look like and > consistency. Also, aside form changing the size of tabs, various > places > people use text, like in email messages, html, etc, tabs get > mangled, so > that may be why spaces were selected as the standard. Or maybe > there is > no logic, and it's just what Guido likes. > > As it happens, the Mac is the only place I've ever had a problem, both > in the old macPython IDE and BBedit. All other editors I've used (at > least mildly competent ones) have been fine. > > -Chris > > > -- > Christopher Barker, Ph.D. > Oceanographer > > NOAA/OR&R/HAZMAT (206) 526-6959 voice > 7600 Sand Point Way NE (206) 526-6329 fax > Seattle, WA 98115 (206) 526-6317 main reception > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > _______________________________________________ > Pythonmac-SIG maillist - Pythonmac-SIG@python.org > http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/pythonmac-sig > _______________________________________________ Pythonmac-SIG maillist - Pythonmac-SIG@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/pythonmac-sig
