Fun fact: Python and QBasic both came out in 1991. Though QuickBASIC is a few years older. > should the missing characters be tabs or spaces then? I'm not sur

Fun fact: Python and QBasic both came out in 1991. Though QuickBASIC is a few years older. > should the missing characters be tabs or spaces then? I'm not sure what QBasic does. But it's irrelevant since they control the format and the display. All Microsoft needed to care about is whether the file displays the same as before when loaded. But it's really no different than text editors that let you switch a tab character to insert 2/4/8 spaces. If you've ever had the misfortune of working on a code base that allowed both tabs and spaces (fake tabs) then you'll be keenly aware that plaintext has always been modal. Your editor either has to figure out how many spaces to display a tab character, or how many spaces to insert on the tab key. Even line endings, CR+LF vs. LF. I think Mac even just used a single CR once upon a time. Makefile is another format that is particular about requiring an actual tab character. The first time I "discovered" this I had the urge to toss my computer out the window. That was probably the late '90s when that sort of information was a bit more difficult to come across.