Tabs versus Spaces in Source Code

[Iain King]

Ant wrote:
> I think Duncan has hit the nail on the head here really. I totally
> agree that conceptually using tabs for indentation is better than using
> spaces. Pragmatically though, you can't tell in an editor where spaces
> are used and where tabs are used.
>

Um, I don't follow this.  If you can't tell the editor where
tabs/spaces are used, who does?

> Perhaps if editors colored the background of tab characters differently
> from spaces this wouldn't be a problem,

Some editors do.

> or if Python was more
> restrictive and did not actually allow a mix of tabs and spaces for
> indentation there would be no problem - the compiler could throw out an
> exception for mixed characters.

python -tt

> In reality, neither of these are likely
> to be implemented any time soon!

um

Iain