6 July 2006
Tabs vs Spaces
This is a very interesting article about the functional difference between tabs and spaces when indenting code. The author argues that the problem today with using Tab to indent code is that tab is thought of in terms of a fixed number of spaces. Really, he argues, Tab should be treated as a delimiter, and the editor application will determine how to best indent. This enables non-fixed width fonts to be used, as an inteligent editor will simply “bump” the column to the greatest applicable width. It took a while looking at the graphic before I got it, but it is a really good idea. I’ll be even more excited if he posts a Vim patch to implement this idea.
Read more at Joel on Software: Tabs vs. Spaces.