Re^2: No Hard Tabs in Code

[Xiong]

Changing the indent level is rarely an issue. I have Increase Indent, Decrease Indent set to Ctrl-[, Ctrl-], because that's how BBEdit does it.

Getting tokens internal to a line to start exactly on tab stops is sometimes a bit trickier, without using hard tabs. On the other hand, it's often more important to match orthogonal syntax to the previous line, so spaces are better there anyway. I'm sold.

[ikegami]

Getting tokens internal to a line to start exactly on tab stops is sometimes a bit trickier, without using hard tabs.

I don't know what you mean. Not only does auto-indenting handle that in almost all situations, the tab key of my editors bring me to a tab stop (even though it's configured to do so by adding spaces).

[Xiong]

Given:

    a   line1
    a       line2

...and the desired result:

    a   line1
    a   line2

...where only spaces intervene; I do not know of any way to align with a single keystroke. If hard tabs are used, a single backspace aligns.

That was my argument. I hope I've made it clear that I no longer find it compelling.

[ikegami]

Wait, you're saying you're using tabs mid line? ow! Your code will look like garbage if the viewer uses different tab stops. I don't mind doing some extra work to avoid that.

It's also a big time waster and distraction to have to pause after each press of Del or cursor to see how far the cursor has moved. I can delete 10 spaces faster than I can delete 10 columns that may contain tabs.

Personally, I often come from the left and use Ctrl-Del (delete to character or EOL) since it's usually more natural to come from the left in the situations in which such an operation is done.