Tabs vs Spaces

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Tabs or Spaces?

Tabs
8
67%
Spaces
4
33%
Mixed
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 12

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sinewav
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Tabs vs Spaces

Post by sinewav »

I use spaces exclusively, either 2 or 4 depending on the language. Lately I've been considering mixed use; tabs for the first level then spaces for each subsequent.
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LOVER$BOY
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Re: Tabs vs Spaces

Post by LOVER$BOY »

I must admit, I use an IDE programming software (PHPStorm) to handle the tabbing. I set the settings on it to convert tabs to spaces and it works pretty good! :)
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Light
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Re: Tabs vs Spaces

Post by Light »

Personally, I like tabs. I like to quickly use keyboard navigation when writing in close areas, so spaces are just slower. Also, if I were to use spaces, I would set the IDE to convert tabs to 4 spaces, as Lover said.

My only thing here is that I really dislike when people mix them. It's just an annoyance to me when going through and doing something. I would stick to one or the other.

As far as looks go, they're usually exactly the same. Pretty sure the common tab length is 4 spaces, so there's not going to be a difference as far as that goes. Though, I guess another up-side to using tabs would be to allow people to set their own indentation lengths.

Anyway, this is just from what I personally prefer. I don't know if there's actually a useful reason to use one or the other. Maybe tabs would keep file size a tad smaller? Not really sure.
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kyle
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Re: Tabs vs Spaces

Post by kyle »

Depends on the language, python I'll use spaces and usually only 2, everything else I'll use a tab, which may be a tab or it might be 4 spaces depending on the ide. I don't ever mix them in the same language.
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chrisd
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Re: Tabs vs Spaces

Post by chrisd »

Tabs for indentation and spaces for alignment. That way if you change the number of spaces that is shown for a tab, it magically still looks good.
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Light
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Re: Tabs vs Spaces

Post by Light »

chrisd wrote:Tabs for indentation and spaces for alignment. That way if you change the number of spaces that is shown for a tab, it magically still looks good.
True, though I don't think using spaces for alignment is what he meant by mixed. I do that as well.
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sinewav
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Re: Tabs vs Spaces

Post by sinewav »

I've read a bunch of the main arguments lately. Some cite file size: Tab = 1byte, 4 Spaces = 4bytes. Apparently this could be noticeable on large files (though it will never be a problem for me personally). Using Tabs let's the programmer control the look with his IDE, spaces force sameness regardless of editor.

I don't see tabs as useful for keyboard navigation since Ctrl+Arrow will get me anywhere I want to go quickly. I think my preference for spaces comes from the fact my first programming language was Python where spaces are king (first language I actually understood, that is). My boss makes me feel stupid because I use spaces, but that's probably because he makes me feel stupid about everything. He's kind of a bad boss that way.

My guess is the Tab/Space argument is only important as far as a project involving a team. I know different frameworks for the same language have different code styles. I've only glanced at the Armagetron code. Tabs there I suppose?
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Re: Tabs vs Spaces

Post by Light »

sinewav wrote:Tabs there I suppose?
Some of both, but for indentation, mostly / all spaces. I don't really have an argument to say they're bad, but I just prefer tabs myself. When I go to delete a single indent, it bothers me to have to count when I could hit backspace once with a tab. Since spaces are used, most IDE's that I've used will keep the style and stick to adding in spaces, which is a good thing, but I would prefer when writing that tabs are used.
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Re: Tabs vs Spaces

Post by epsy »

Your editor can be configured to delete groups of spaces as if they were tabs. Well, mine can.
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Re: Tabs vs Spaces

Post by Light »

epsy wrote:Your editor can be configured to delete groups of spaces as if they were tabs. Well, mine can.
But then, what's the advantage to using spaces?
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Jonathan
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Re: Tabs vs Spaces

Post by Jonathan »

I like tabs. They suit the common task of indenting by certain intervals innately. Everyone can use their preferred tab width. If I absolutely want ASCII art or something else that needs characters to line up, I'll use spaces within, although the whole thing may be indented by tabs.

Elastic tabstops are interesting.

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