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> 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

> 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

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