3 ms·

It is just far easier to use a monospaced font than to implement a whole tabbing system in every editor you'd want to use. And the alignment needs can vary by l

by Retra 12y ago

It is just far easier to use a monospaced font than to implement a whole tabbing system in every editor you'd want to use. And the alignment needs can vary by language and application. That's why it is so nice to work in a grid: you can align things however you like for any purpose. You don't have to rewrite someone else's parser or build a plugin to properly format an ad-hoc table in a comment. "If source code editors can highlight syntax, they could also interpret tabs and syntax to create true, adjustable columns of text." Yeah, but they don't.

deleted 12y ago
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seanmcdirmid 12y ago
Oh but they could. Are programmers condemned to an eternity monospace typewriter hell because we are too lazy to build better editors? Will we be able to upgrade to proportional fonts before the singularity occurs and programming becomes obsolete anyways? I've been proportional for about 3 years now; once you go with better typography you can't really go back.
- Retra 12y ago
  Yes, we probably are condemned. For the same reason that mathematicians are condemned to know how to add and subtract, even though one could achieve the same results using a more general method. Monospace is just simpler. We use it in consoles, and they aren't going away or being revolutionized. And if you want to write a new text editor, you will probably end up supporting monospace behavior before proportional simply because it is such a simple and flexible algorithm. And in the end, the only reason to use proportional font is for style and a marginal increase in readability. So it's not a matter of laziness, but of efficiency and design fundamentals.
  - seanmcdirmid 12y ago
    > And in the end, the only reason to use proportional font is for style and a marginal increase in readability. Everyone always claims that "we read code" more than "we write code", yet we still optimize for writing rather than reading. Reading code that has been typeset well is a joy and much improved experience vs. reading code that has not.

by Retra 12y ago

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

seanmcdirmid 12y ago

Oh but they could. Are programmers condemned to an eternity monospace typewriter hell because we are too lazy to build better editors? Will we be able to upgrade to proportional fonts before the singularity occurs and programming becomes obsolete anyways? I've been proportional for about 3 years now; once you go with better typography you can't really go back.

Retra 12y ago
Yes, we probably are condemned. For the same reason that mathematicians are condemned to know how to add and subtract, even though one could achieve the same results using a more general method. Monospace is just simpler. We use it in consoles, and they aren't going away or being revolutionized. And if you want to write a new text editor, you will probably end up supporting monospace behavior before proportional simply because it is such a simple and flexible algorithm. And in the end, the only reason to use proportional font is for style and a marginal increase in readability. So it's not a matter of laziness, but of efficiency and design fundamentals.
- seanmcdirmid 12y ago
  > And in the end, the only reason to use proportional font is for style and a marginal increase in readability. Everyone always claims that "we read code" more than "we write code", yet we still optimize for writing rather than reading. Reading code that has been typeset well is a joy and much improved experience vs. reading code that has not.