Re: PEP8 and 4 spaces

From	Ben Finney <ben@benfinney.id.au>
Subject	Re: PEP8 and 4 spaces
Date	2014-07-07 11:00 +1000
References	<53B59358.2040404@tobiah.org> <CAGGBd_rOg+EX1OxryW9-6+2b6yqzzKL9xN1K7+TPSP77tJz=bQ@mail.gmail.com>
Newsgroups	comp.lang.python
Message-ID	<mailman.11567.1404694875.18130.python-list@python.org> (permalink)

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Dan Stromberg <drsalists@gmail.com> writes:

> But I finally acknowledged that some very smart people don't
> understand tabs, or don't want to learn how to use them.

One day, you may reach the further realisation that those same very
smart people *do* understand tabs, and *do* know how to use them — and
nevertheless choose not to put them in source code, for good reasons.

> Also, I figured out how to get python files to use spaces and
> Makefile's to use tabs, using some slight vim configuration.

The makefile syntax is one of the excellent examples of why it's a
terrible idea to use tab characters in source code. It's also an
excellent example of how a poor design decision (a line beginning with
U+0020 SPACE is semantically different from a line beginning with U+0009
CHARACTER TABULATION) can be irrevocable – the syntax can't be changed
now, without breaking compatibility for countless makefiles out there
already – and cause endless confusion and wasted effort dealing with it.

Using a mature, well-customised, language-agnostic programmer's editor
does make it much better: Vim and Emacs can both seamlessly handle “tabs
are forbidden by default” as a configuration choice, along with “tabs
are necessary in make files, using spaces in the wrong place is an
error” at the same time.

> So I'm using 4 spaces now.
>
> It's nice not having to ignore the relevant pep8 and pylint warnings
> anymore.  And I don't miss tabs nearly as much as I thought I would.
> In fact, I'm not sure I miss them at all.

Hooray! Welcome to the light :-)

-- 
 \                   “The best ad-libs are rehearsed.” —Graham Kennedy |
  `\                                                                   |
_o__)                                                                  |
Ben Finney

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Re: PEP8 and 4 spaces Ben Finney <ben@benfinney.id.au> - 2014-07-07 11:00 +1000
  Re: PEP8 and 4 spaces Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2014-07-07 02:28 +0000
    Re: PEP8 and 4 spaces Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-07-07 12:50 +1000
  Re: PEP8 and 4 spaces Dan Sommers <dan@tombstonezero.net> - 2014-07-07 05:35 +0000
    Re: PEP8 and 4 spaces Ben Finney <ben@benfinney.id.au> - 2014-07-08 11:22 +1000
      Re: PEP8 and 4 spaces wxjmfauth@gmail.com - 2014-07-08 00:03 -0700
      Re: PEP8 and 4 spaces Steven D'Aprano <steve@pearwood.info> - 2014-07-08 08:48 +0000
        Re: PEP8 and 4 spaces Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-07-08 19:05 +1000
        Re: PEP8 and 4 spaces Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2014-07-08 12:09 +0300
          Re: PEP8 and 4 spaces Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-07-08 20:28 +1000
            Re: PEP8 and 4 spaces Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2014-07-08 14:13 +0300
              Re: PEP8 and 4 spaces Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2014-07-08 21:37 +1000
        Re: PEP8 and 4 spaces Ben Finney <ben@benfinney.id.au> - 2014-07-09 12:41 +1000
          Re: PEP8 and 4 spaces wxjmfauth@gmail.com - 2014-07-09 01:19 -0700

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