3 ms·

I think the whole point of picking a language standard is to prevent the "space vs tabs" debate. Andrew is trying to standardize the language formatting issues,

I think the whole point of picking a language standard is to prevent the "space vs tabs" debate. Andrew is trying to standardize the language formatting issues, similar to tools like `rust fmt`, `gofmt` and `black`. The "Spaces vs. Tabs" argument shouldn't be what stops you from joining hands and working together :)

simias 6y ago
I completely agree with you, I love not caring about formatting anymore. That being said, does this mean that zig refuses to compile code containing tabs? Because that seems a bit counterproductive to me. A great advantage of rustfmt and friends is that I don't really have to care about my editor being correctly configured, I can just code without worrying about style and run rustfmt before comitting. But if the compiler outright rejects poorly formatted code it means that I have to run the format tool every time I want to compile or risk having my code rejected due to format issues. Now I have to care about my style again! It's the opposite of what I want. I mean it's a very small issue and mainly a bikeshed, but that seems like an odd decision to me.
- m45t3r 6y ago
  You can just configure your editor to run formatter on save or with a shortcut. Not really a deal breaker.
- anand-bala 6y ago
  You have a valid point, but if the only formatting issue you will have is tabs, then running `zig fmt` on your codebase is pretty much a non-issue. If your project is small, just run `zig fmt` on the command line. If you have a large codebase, you can just incorporate it into your build process (similar to how clang-format and clang-tidy are used in CMake projects). But again, if you have a large codebase written in Zig, you've probably already configured your editor to run `zig fmt` on save :)
  - littlestymaar 6y ago
    > But again, if you have a large codebase written in Zig, At this point it means you're probably Andrew himself because the Zig compiler is the only large Zig codebase out there;)
    - jorangreef 6y ago
      https://github.com/ifreund/river https://github.com/ifreund/river https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=124wdTckHNY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=124wdTckHNY
- ymbeld 6y ago
  “Refuse to compile” makes it sound like the compiler is able to but unwilling to compile the code. It could very well be that the parser doesn’t recognize tab as a valid token.

simias 6y ago

I completely agree with you, I love not caring about formatting anymore. That being said, does this mean that zig refuses to compile code containing tabs? Because that seems a bit counterproductive to me. A great advantage of rustfmt and friends is that I don't really have to care about my editor being correctly configured, I can just code without worrying about style and run rustfmt before comitting. But if the compiler outright rejects poorly formatted code it means that I have to run the format tool every time I want to compile or risk having my code rejected due to format issues. Now I have to care about my style again! It's the opposite of what I want. I mean it's a very small issue and mainly a bikeshed, but that seems like an odd decision to me.

m45t3r 6y ago
You can just configure your editor to run formatter on save or with a shortcut. Not really a deal breaker.
anand-bala 6y ago
You have a valid point, but if the only formatting issue you will have is tabs, then running `zig fmt` on your codebase is pretty much a non-issue. If your project is small, just run `zig fmt` on the command line. If you have a large codebase, you can just incorporate it into your build process (similar to how clang-format and clang-tidy are used in CMake projects). But again, if you have a large codebase written in Zig, you've probably already configured your editor to run `zig fmt` on save :)
- littlestymaar 6y ago
  > But again, if you have a large codebase written in Zig, At this point it means you're probably Andrew himself because the Zig compiler is the only large Zig codebase out there;)
  - jorangreef 6y ago
    https://github.com/ifreund/river https://github.com/ifreund/river https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=124wdTckHNY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=124wdTckHNY
ymbeld 6y ago
“Refuse to compile” makes it sound like the compiler is able to but unwilling to compile the code. It could very well be that the parser doesn’t recognize tab as a valid token.