Tabs versus Spaces in Source Code

[achates]

Duncan Booth wrote:

>Because it doesn't mean 'one level of indentation', it means 'move to next
>tabstop' and a tabstop isn't necessarily the same as a level of
>indentation.

'move to next tabstop' is how your editor interprets a tab character.
'one level of indentation' is how the language parser interprets it.
The two are entirely consistent, in that they are both isomorphic
mappings of the same source file.

>In particular a common convention is to have indentations at 4
>spaces and tabs expanding to 8 spaces.

Like all space-indenters, you seem to be hung up on the idea of a tab
'expanding' to n spaces. It only does that if you make your editor
delete the tab character and replace it with spaces! Really, that is
the only sense in which your statement makes any sense. If you want
your indentation to have the width of four, eight, or nineteen spaces,
set your tabstops accordingly.

Seriously people, this is about separating the content of a source file
from how it is displayed. It's about letting people work together while
also allowing them to have control over their own environments,
something which is and always has been central to the hacker ethos.