XOM API for Processing XML with Java

[Elliotte Harold <elharo AT metalab.unc.edu>]

Alex Blewitt wrote:

> There are problems when both can be mixed, because
> you're never sure what the exact conversion rate
> between tabs and spaces is. As a result, a file with
> mixed tab/space content can be misleading, and hence
> some of the problems arise from the fact that there is
> mixed cntent.

How do you half indent to indicate a continuation with a tab?

> However, if a file is indented with entirely tabs or
> entirely spaces, this problem does not arise. It is
> just as much a problem with using spaces in a mixed
> content as the tabs are.

Spaces are and will be used. tabs don't have to be.

> Furthermore, the whole point of the tab is to say
> 'indent here'. I mean, come on -- when writing books,
> your publisher would be pretty horrified if at the
> start of each paragraph you began it with
> 'space''space''space', or for quotations providing
> indentation. And yet this is a perfectly acceptable
> solution for source code?

My current publishers would complain vociferously if I used tabs 
anywhere, including in source code. Tabs cause massive problems for 
their formatting tool chains. One of my old publishers used tabs for 
lists and tables, but never in source code.

Tabs cause problems when files are moved from one editor to another. 
They cause problems when students print out homework, or when source 
code is exchanged in email. Tabs are evil!

> A tab means indent. Nothing more, nothing less. 

Source code is plain text. There are no indents in plain text. Just 
characters.

--
Elliotte Rusty Harold  elharo AT metalab.unc.edu
XML in a Nutshell 3rd Edition Just Published!
http://www.cafeconleche.org/books/xian3/
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0596007647/cafeaulaitA/ref=nosim