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Tab is still important to programmers. Developers with a new MBP manage by changing Caps Lock Key to Escape. Less pinky travel too. If you need caps, you can

Tab is still important to programmers. Developers with a new MBP manage by changing Caps Lock Key to Escape. Less pinky travel too. If you need caps, you can download Karabiner and move caps to something else. I changed mine to pressing both Shift buttons.

enriquto 7y ago
> tab is still important for programmers I disagree. If you are a even modestly decent programmer you know to configure autoindentation so that you never need the tab key for anything. I cannot imagine a scenario where I would need the tab key in insert mode (except a very fringe case where I need to enter a tab character in a literal string and for some reason there are no escapes like \t. But then again you can still ^V^I)
- empthought 7y ago
  Lots of editor use the tab key to autocomplete. It's often called "tab completion."
  - enriquto 7y ago
    of course, in vim you have ^o for that
- Smaug123 7y ago
  So presumably in a whitespace-sensitive language you would always leave insert mode to declare the whitespace?
- apocolyps6 7y ago
  You can't autoindent python, regardless of how good a programmer you are.
  - enriquto 7y ago
    of course you can! you only need to press ENTER (to create a newline) and BACKSPACE (to exit the current block). You never need to press TAB
- skratchpixels 7y ago
  I wasn't only speaking about Vim. Even then going to Caps is less travel than Tab. I use Caps less than I use Tab like for switching programs. Whatever works for you.
- jki275 7y ago
  Ah, no. autoindent is a nice feature that is never perfect.
  - enriquto 7y ago
    can you point to a minimal example where vanilla vim autoindent cannot cope with python code editing? I never found any situation where I had to press the tab key
    - jki275 7y ago
      Have you ever refactored anything? Especially in Python, moving a line into a control block requires using the tab key. If you don't have to press the tab key either you're such a god programmer that you have never made a mistake or refactored anything you've ever written, or you're trolling.
      - enriquto 7y ago
        there's >> and << for changing the indentation of a line. And i'm not a good programmer, a good vim user at most

enriquto 7y ago

> tab is still important for programmers I disagree. If you are a even modestly decent programmer you know to configure autoindentation so that you never need the tab key for anything. I cannot imagine a scenario where I would need the tab key in insert mode (except a very fringe case where I need to enter a tab character in a literal string and for some reason there are no escapes like \t. But then again you can still ^V^I)

empthought 7y ago
Lots of editor use the tab key to autocomplete. It's often called "tab completion."
- enriquto 7y ago
  of course, in vim you have ^o for that
Smaug123 7y ago
So presumably in a whitespace-sensitive language you would always leave insert mode to declare the whitespace?
apocolyps6 7y ago
You can't autoindent python, regardless of how good a programmer you are.
- enriquto 7y ago
  of course you can! you only need to press ENTER (to create a newline) and BACKSPACE (to exit the current block). You never need to press TAB
skratchpixels 7y ago
I wasn't only speaking about Vim. Even then going to Caps is less travel than Tab. I use Caps less than I use Tab like for switching programs. Whatever works for you.
jki275 7y ago
Ah, no. autoindent is a nice feature that is never perfect.
- enriquto 7y ago
  can you point to a minimal example where vanilla vim autoindent cannot cope with python code editing? I never found any situation where I had to press the tab key
  - jki275 7y ago
    Have you ever refactored anything? Especially in Python, moving a line into a control block requires using the tab key. If you don't have to press the tab key either you're such a god programmer that you have never made a mistake or refactored anything you've ever written, or you're trolling.
    - enriquto 7y ago
      there's >> and << for changing the indentation of a line. And i'm not a good programmer, a good vim user at most