FreeTDS Development Group

["Mark J. Lilback" <mark AT lilback.com>]

I'll throw my 2 cents in as preferring tabs with 4, though I can deal 
with any number as long as it isn't too big (like 8). One of the 
first things I do when I get an account on a unix box is to create a 
.exrc file with tabs set to 4.

At 10:43 AM -0400 10/23/2002, Lowden, James K wrote:
> The problem arises when people lean on the spacebar instead of the tab key,
> or use an editor that writes N spaces every time <tab> is pressed.  I've
> always thought the latter was a braindead nonfeature, because it's
> asymmetrical: press <tab> once and you have to press <backspace> N times to
> undo it.  Strictly dopey.  Also, it inevitably leads to off-by-one
> (indentation) errors, because people get it wrong from time to time.

I totally agree. Apple's tools do that by default, and some of them 
won't even let you change the code generation to use tabs instead of 
spaces.

> which, btw is why God intended tabstops to be at 3. ;)  My assertion is, if
> you do this and it doesn't line up according to the prescribed tabstop --
> currently 5 -- then you did it wrong.  If you like (as I do) something other
> than 5, correctly indented code will look a little wavy in those places.
> That's not such a high price to pay for everyone else's flexibility.

That's why I like tabs. Everyone can set their own preference and it 
will still mostly line-up.

Plus, tabs result in smaller files. Sure, it doesn't make a 
difference with drive sizes now days, but I still go for efficiency 
every time. I spent too much time learning to be an embedded 
programmer to break that habit.

--
__________________________________________________________________________
                                  "They that can give up essential liberty
Mark J. Lilback                    to obtain a little temporary safety
<mark AT lilback.com>                 deserve neither liberty or safety."
http://www.lilback.com/                               -- Benjamin Franklin