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I was just thinking somewhat the same thing, making my son familiar with mono-spaced fonts, so when he found some source code, it'll be like home to him when he

I was just thinking somewhat the same thing, making my son familiar with mono-spaced fonts, so when he found some source code, it'll be like home to him when he grows up... guess it's going to work, to some extent p/s: he's just 4yo now

Stratoscope 11y ago
That's really neat that you want your son to be familiar with monospaced fonts so source code displayed that way will look normal and comfortable. Screenplays too! So I hope I won't be out of line with a friendly suggestion... :-) Don't teach him that there is something special about monospaced fonts that lets you write code - that code can only be written in a monospaced font. I honestly think that the majority of programmers believe this, but it just isn't so. I haven't written any of my code in a monospaced font in over ten years - and the funny thing is you'd never be able to tell that from reading my code. It reads the same and the formatting looks the same whether you view it in a proportional or monospaced font. I've run into many programmers who are shocked when they find out that I write code in a proportional font. They ask, "How can you do that? How can it possibly work?" Rather than go into the details here of how it can possibly work - it's really quite simple and becomes apparent once you try a proportional font - imagine that one day your son asks, "Daddy, why do we have to code in monospaced fonts? I like Trebuchet! [Or Comic Sans, or whatever.] Why can't I code in that?" Do you answer, "Don't be silly, of course you can't do that. We always program in monospaced fonts. You couldn't possibly code in a proportional font, it just doesn't work." Or, "Well, that's a good question. I've always used monospaced fonts, but I never really thought about it. Why don't you experiment and see how it works out, maybe you can teach me something new!" Don't misunderstand, these are just examples, I don't mean to put words in your mouth or say what kind of conversation you and your son might have. But I think most programmers today would give the first answer, and that makes me a bit sad. Whatever your own thoughts about fonts, it is definitely cool that you want to open the doors for your son to be interested in programming!
- kozak 11y ago
  ..and then, by the time he grows up, elastic tabstops become commonplace and people stop using monospaced fonts for code :)

Stratoscope 11y ago

That's really neat that you want your son to be familiar with monospaced fonts so source code displayed that way will look normal and comfortable. Screenplays too! So I hope I won't be out of line with a friendly suggestion... :-) Don't teach him that there is something special about monospaced fonts that lets you write code - that code can only be written in a monospaced font. I honestly think that the majority of programmers believe this, but it just isn't so. I haven't written any of my code in a monospaced font in over ten years - and the funny thing is you'd never be able to tell that from reading my code. It reads the same and the formatting looks the same whether you view it in a proportional or monospaced font. I've run into many programmers who are shocked when they find out that I write code in a proportional font. They ask, "How can you do that? How can it possibly work?" Rather than go into the details here of how it can possibly work - it's really quite simple and becomes apparent once you try a proportional font - imagine that one day your son asks, "Daddy, why do we have to code in monospaced fonts? I like Trebuchet! [Or Comic Sans, or whatever.] Why can't I code in that?" Do you answer, "Don't be silly, of course you can't do that. We always program in monospaced fonts. You couldn't possibly code in a proportional font, it just doesn't work." Or, "Well, that's a good question. I've always used monospaced fonts, but I never really thought about it. Why don't you experiment and see how it works out, maybe you can teach me something new!" Don't misunderstand, these are just examples, I don't mean to put words in your mouth or say what kind of conversation you and your son might have. But I think most programmers today would give the first answer, and that makes me a bit sad. Whatever your own thoughts about fonts, it is definitely cool that you want to open the doors for your son to be interested in programming!

kozak 11y ago
..and then, by the time he grows up, elastic tabstops become commonplace and people stop using monospaced fonts for code :)