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Yep. It's not a github problem, it is a problem with the code mixing tabs and spaces for indentation. It never ceases to amaze me just how many programmers don

Yep. It's not a github problem, it is a problem with the code mixing tabs and spaces for indentation. It never ceases to amaze me just how many programmers don't understand tabs. I guess it's because they look like spaces Or because every programmer at some point got bitten by the issue but instead of learning how to use tabs correctly learnt that tabs are evil. The tabs vs spaces war is all just a massive misunderstanding due to some people (the spaces people) not understanding tabs (and not understanding that nobody is advocating using tabs for alignment purposes).

tom_mellior 8y ago
> not understanding that nobody is advocating using tabs for alignment purposes It's not about advocating, it's about actual use as in the example above. Tab fans get confused about what they are doing and put hard tabs where there shouldn't be any. If tab users were actually perfectly consistent about using only tabs only for indentation but not alignment, things would be fine. In practice most of them don't understand the issues and even those that do understand them apparently fail to be consistent in practice. Which is not surprising, since tabs are just as invisible as spaces in most environments. I've said it before, I'll say it again: I've worked on several projects that were halfway through a painful tabs-to-spaces transition period, and they all said "no tabs in new code, never again a project where we allow tabs". I've never had the opposite experience. In practice, as used by actual humans that need to work together, tabs don't work well.
- cup-of-tea 8y ago
  Yeah, I guess that is also my experience and it correlates with what I do. I think that tabs for indentation and spaces for alignment is correct, but in practice I use spaces and have done for most of my career (apart from go).
jasonkostempski 8y ago
Tabs polute an otherwise perfectly simple concept, fixed width fonts. If they had't existed out of the gate, no one would have ever considered asking for it, especially if the reason was "I want to be able to pick my own indentation level". They'd be laughed out of the industry. You want the whole world to worry about your prefered indentation level every single time they start a new line? Thats never going happen. Take the indentaion level your given and burden yourself with the task of writting a feature for your editor that lets you pick what you like instead. Oh, and have fun fighting with it every time you open a file you didn't write.

tom_mellior 8y ago

> not understanding that nobody is advocating using tabs for alignment purposes It's not about advocating, it's about actual use as in the example above. Tab fans get confused about what they are doing and put hard tabs where there shouldn't be any. If tab users were actually perfectly consistent about using only tabs only for indentation but not alignment, things would be fine. In practice most of them don't understand the issues and even those that do understand them apparently fail to be consistent in practice. Which is not surprising, since tabs are just as invisible as spaces in most environments. I've said it before, I'll say it again: I've worked on several projects that were halfway through a painful tabs-to-spaces transition period, and they all said "no tabs in new code, never again a project where we allow tabs". I've never had the opposite experience. In practice, as used by actual humans that need to work together, tabs don't work well.

cup-of-tea 8y ago
Yeah, I guess that is also my experience and it correlates with what I do. I think that tabs for indentation and spaces for alignment is correct, but in practice I use spaces and have done for most of my career (apart from go).

jasonkostempski 8y ago

Tabs polute an otherwise perfectly simple concept, fixed width fonts. If they had't existed out of the gate, no one would have ever considered asking for it, especially if the reason was "I want to be able to pick my own indentation level". They'd be laughed out of the industry. You want the whole world to worry about your prefered indentation level every single time they start a new line? Thats never going happen. Take the indentaion level your given and burden yourself with the task of writting a feature for your editor that lets you pick what you like instead. Oh, and have fun fighting with it every time you open a file you didn't write.