>>>>> "Erik" == Erik E Fair <fair@clock.org> writes:

Erik> At 13:22 -0700 8/21/98, gwr@netbsd.org wrote:
Gordon> If you use REAL tabs for all indents, then the person working on
Gordon> the file can view it and work with using any tab size they like!

Gordon> (I use tab-width=4 in emacs:)

Erik> Now this, I agree with. Can we end this debate now?

Not quite, because this doesn't work.  Indentations that are intended to
line up with previous lines (like my preferred indentation style for
argument passing to functions which won't fit on a single line) can show
up busted if your tabs don't match the author's tabs.  Mixing tabs and
spaces doesn't work right unless your tabs are set the same as everybody
else's.

However, smart editors (emacs is among them) know how to use 4 character
widths for indentation.  They just use spaces or tabs as appropriate
(with ASCII TAB characters always meaning "move to the next tabstop" and
tabstops set every 8 characters.)

-- 
==John Kohl <jtk@kolvir.arlington.ma.us>, <john_kohl@alum.mit.edu>
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Home page: <URL:http://people.ne.mediaone.net/jtk/>
Note new home zip code as of July 1, 1998: 02476