Re: Are TABs a topic? ( was Re: “A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch [...])

From	Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid>
Newsgroups	comp.editors, comp.lang.c
Subject	Re: Are TABs a topic? ( was Re: “A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch [...])
Date	2026-06-04 00:07 +0000
Organization	A noiseless patient Spider
Message-ID	<10vqfkb$259o$4@dont-email.me> (permalink)
References	<10tg96h$1g1mp$1@dont-email.me> <10tismt$2cmtr$1@dont-email.me> <10vnae7$35ho0$1@dont-email.me> <10vooj9$3uus7$9@dont-email.me> <10vorkv$3h8en$1@dont-email.me>

Cross-posted to 2 groups.

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On Wed, 3 Jun 2026 05:20:31 -0400, Paul wrote:

> Tabs or tabulation control, was from the typewriter era.

That concept did also carry over to the computer terminal era.

Press that big fat “SET-UP” button on a VT100 terminal, for example,
and the most prominent feature you see is the tab ruler along the
bottom, with a “T” marking each tab stop.

> Where does that leave us in a modern era ? Concept is perverted, by
> emitting some fixed number of spaces per tab, which is not how the
> original concept worked.

Not quite. It is usual for software to emulate tabs the way they were
supposed to work, by skipping to the next tab stop position, not by
emitting some fixed number of spaces.

Thread

“A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch between Microsoft and IBM organizational structures” by Raymond Chen Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> - 2026-05-06 15:43 -0500
  Re: “A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch between Microsoft and IBM organizational structures” by Raymond Chen "Chris M. Thomasson" <chris.m.thomasson.1@gmail.com> - 2026-05-07 13:29 -0700
    Re: “A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch between Microsoft and IBM organizational structures” by Raymond Chen Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-05-07 21:26 +0000
    Re: “A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch between Microsoft and IBM organizational structures” by Raymond Chen Graham J <nobody@nowhere.co.uk> - 2026-05-08 07:57 +0100
      Re: “A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch between Microsoft and IBM organizational structures” by Raymond Chen Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-05-08 09:25 +0000
        Re: “A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch between Microsoft and IBM organizational structures” by Raymond Chen BGB <cr88192@gmail.com> - 2026-06-03 17:00 -0500
          Re: “A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch between Microsoft and IBM organizational structures” by Raymond Chen "Chris M. Thomasson" <chris.m.thomasson.1@gmail.com> - 2026-06-03 15:07 -0700
            Re: “A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch between Microsoft and IBM organizational structures” by Raymond Chen BGB <cr88192@gmail.com> - 2026-06-03 17:51 -0500
          Re: “A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch between Microsoft and IBM organizational structures” by Raymond Chen Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-06-07 02:40 +0000
            Re: “A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch between Microsoft and IBM organizational structures” by Raymond Chen Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2026-06-07 10:46 +0100
              Re: “A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch between Microsoft and IBM organizational structures” by Raymond Chen Richard Harnden <richard.nospam@gmail.invalid> - 2026-06-07 12:44 +0100
    Re: “A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch between Microsoft and IBM organizational structures” by Raymond Chen Michael S <already5chosen@yahoo.com> - 2026-05-08 14:14 +0300
      Re: “A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch between Microsoft and IBM organizational structures” by Raymond Chen "Chris M. Thomasson" <chris.m.thomasson.1@gmail.com> - 2026-05-08 13:29 -0700
    Re: “A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch between Microsoft and IBM organizational structures” by Raymond Chen Mario Rosell <mario@mariorosell.es> - 2026-06-02 19:20 +0000
      Re: “A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch between Microsoft and IBM organizational structures” by Raymond Chen "Chris M. Thomasson" <chris.m.thomasson.1@gmail.com> - 2026-06-02 13:27 -0700
        Re: “A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch between Microsoft and IBM organizational structures” by Raymond Chen Richard Harnden <richard.nospam@gmail.invalid> - 2026-06-02 21:59 +0100
          Re: Re: “A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch between Microsoft and IBM organizational structures” by Raymond Chen scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2026-06-02 21:35 +0000
            Re: “A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch between Microsoft and IBM organizational structures” by Raymond Chen "Chris M. Thomasson" <chris.m.thomasson.1@gmail.com> - 2026-06-02 14:53 -0700
              Re: “A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch between Microsoft and IBM organizational structures” by Raymond Chen Bart <bc@freeuk.com> - 2026-06-02 23:28 +0100
                Re: “A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch between Microsoft and IBM organizational structures” by Raymond Chen Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-06-03 06:58 +0000
                Re: “A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch between Microsoft and IBM organizational structures” by Raymond Chen "Chris M. Thomasson" <chris.m.thomasson.1@gmail.com> - 2026-06-03 13:15 -0700
            Re: “A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch between Microsoft and IBM organizational structures” by Raymond Chen Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> - 2026-06-02 17:35 -0500
              Re: “A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch between Microsoft and IBM organizational structures” by Raymond Chen Nioclás Pól Caileán de Ghloucester <thanks-to@Taf.com> - 2026-06-04 20:54 +0000
                Re: “A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch between Microsoft and IBM organizational structures” by Raymond Chen Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> - 2026-06-04 17:28 -0500
          Re: “A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch between Microsoft and IBM organizational structures” by Raymond Chen "Chris M. Thomasson" <chris.m.thomasson.1@gmail.com> - 2026-06-02 14:45 -0700
          Re: “A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch between Microsoft and IBM organizational structures” by Raymond Chen Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-06-03 06:53 +0000
      Are TABs a topic? ( was Re: “A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch [...]) Janis Papanagnou <janis_papanagnou+ng@hotmail.com> - 2026-06-03 10:28 +0200
        Re: Are TABs a topic? ( was Re: “A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch [...]) Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2026-06-03 05:20 -0400
          Re: Are TABs a topic? ( was Re: “A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch [...]) Janis Papanagnou <janis_papanagnou+ng@hotmail.com> - 2026-06-03 14:35 +0200
          Re: Are TABs a topic? ( was Re: “A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch [...]) Janis Papanagnou <janis_papanagnou+ng@hotmail.com> - 2026-06-03 14:50 +0200
          Re: Are TABs a topic? ( was Re: “A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch [...]) Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-06-04 00:07 +0000
  Re: �A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch between Microsoft and IBM organizational structures� by Raymond Chen pyotr filipivich <phamp@mindspring.com> - 2026-05-08 16:18 -0700
    Re: A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch between Microsoft and IBM organizational structures by Raymond Chen Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> - 2026-05-08 18:32 -0500
      Re: A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch between Microsoft and IBM organizational structures by Raymond Chen Janis Papanagnou <janis_papanagnou+ng@hotmail.com> - 2026-05-09 01:50 +0200
        Re: A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch between Microsoft and IBM organizational structures by Raymond Chen Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> - 2026-05-08 21:00 -0500
    Re: "A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch between Microsoft and IBM organizational structures" by Raymond Chen Chris Ahlstrom <OFeem1987@teleworm.us> - 2026-05-09 07:19 -0400
    Re: A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch between Microsoft and IBM organizational structures by Raymond Chen "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2026-05-09 13:58 +0200
      Re: A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch between Microsoft and IBM organizational structures by Raymond Chen Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-05-10 03:40 +0000
        Re: A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch between Microsoft and IBM organizational structures by Raymond Chen "Kerr-Mudd, John" <admin@127.0.0.1> - 2026-05-10 08:58 +0100
        Re: A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch between Microsoft and IBM organizational structures by Raymond Chen "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2026-05-10 12:34 +0200
          Re: A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch between Microsoft and IBM organizational structures by Raymond Chen Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-05-10 22:59 +0000
        Re: A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch between Microsoft and IBM organizational structures by Raymond Chen Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2026-05-10 15:48 -0700
  Re: “A dispute over the TAB key highlights a mismatch between Microsoft and IBM organizational structures” by Raymond Chen Keith Thompson <Keith.S.Thompson+u@gmail.com> - 2026-05-09 16:14 -0700

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