Re: [gedit-list] elastic tabstops implemented in gedit

["Nick Gravgaard" <me nickgravgaard com>]

On 18/07/07, August Karlstrom <fusionfive comhem se> wrote:
> Nick Gravgaard skrev:
> > Hi everyone,
> >
> > I thought some of you might be interested in some work I did recently.
> > I came up with an idea I call elastic tabstops which I think goes some
> > way towards solving the problems programmers have with indenting and
> > aligning code, and I've pached gedit to implement it. I've also
> > written a gedit plugin which can convert files between using elastic
> > tabstops and using spaces.
> >
> > For more information, please see http://nickgravgaard.com/elastictabstops/
> >
> > I'd love to hear any feedback, and really love to see this
> > functionality appear in gedit officially or in any other projects.
> >
> > Tell me what you think,
> > Nick
>
> I really don't see any problems with using tabs only for indentation.
>
> Advantages:
>
> 1. Everyone can set their preferred tab width in the editor,
>
> 2. easier editing and maintained consistency as we insert and delete
> complete indentation steps,
>
> 3. smaller source files.
>
> Disadvantage: We can't do fancy formatting such as lining up parameters
> and such. On the other this is not necessarily a disadvantage; if the
> parameter list in your example:
>
> int someDemoCode(int fred, int wilma);
>
> is arranged as
>
> int someDemoCode(
>         int fred,
>         int wilma);
>
> as opposed to
>
> int someDemoCode(int fred,
>                   int wilma);
>
> we only have to edit one line if the function needs to be renamed.
>
> The main point is that making changes to a source file shouldn't require
> a fancy editor or excessive editing of surrounding code.

The problem is that people inevitably do want to align parameters and
stuff. I used to argue like you against lining things up, but I think
that was only because I knew that people with different sized tab
settings would have problems and I didn't like spaces.