From owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Apr 16 12:48:11 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6499210656C6 for ; Thu, 16 Apr 2009 12:48:11 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from olli@lurza.secnetix.de) Received: from lurza.secnetix.de (lurza.secnetix.de [IPv6:2a01:170:102f::2]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2D7FF8FC1F for ; Thu, 16 Apr 2009 12:48:08 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from olli@lurza.secnetix.de) Received: from lurza.secnetix.de (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by lurza.secnetix.de (8.14.3/8.14.3) with ESMTP id n3GClgXd017317; Thu, 16 Apr 2009 14:48:06 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from oliver.fromme@secnetix.de) Received: (from olli@localhost) by lurza.secnetix.de (8.14.3/8.14.3/Submit) id n3GClfAl017316; Thu, 16 Apr 2009 14:47:41 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from olli) Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 14:47:41 +0200 (CEST) Message-Id: <200904161247.n3GClfAl017316@lurza.secnetix.de> From: Oliver Fromme To: freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG, fullermd@over-yonder.net, Giorgos Keramidas In-Reply-To: <20090415145605.GO40689@over-yonder.net> X-Newsgroups: list.freebsd-chat User-Agent: tin/1.8.3-20070201 ("Scotasay") (UNIX) (FreeBSD/6.4-PRERELEASE-20080904 (i386)) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-2.1.2 (lurza.secnetix.de [127.0.0.1]); Thu, 16 Apr 2009 14:48:06 +0200 (CEST) Cc: Subject: Re: My whitespace style X-BeenThere: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG, fullermd@over-yonder.net, Giorgos Keramidas List-Id: Non technical items related to the community List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 12:48:12 -0000 Matthew D. Fuller wrote: > On Wed, Apr 15, 2009 at 10:20:08AM +0300 I heard the voice of > Giorgos Keramidas, and lo! it spake thus: > > > > switch (value) { > > case SOME_CONSTANT_NAME: do_stuff_here(); break; > > case ANOTHER_CONSTANT_NAME: do_some_other_stuff(); break; > > default: default_stuff(); break; > > } > > ^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^ > This is This is > indentation alignment > > > > Composite structure initializations also use a style similar to > > this, and will almost invariably end up looking horrendously > > misformatted when TAB sizes are 'elastic', i.e.: > > Only if you abuse tabs for alignment. Indentation is not alignment. > It's a pity that the two get conflated and everybody ends up treating > them the same, so that advocating tab indentation is read as > advocating tab alignment (even by proponents of tab indentation). The problem is that many (most? all?) editors cannot easily be configured to differentiate between them, i.e. insert literal ASCII tabs characters when the key is pressed for indentation, and insert ASCII spaces when the key is pressed for alignment. *And* treat the alignment spaces transparently like tabs, just like the indentation spaces. That's probably not easy to implement, and it gets really messy when you edit the line, remove or insert stuff between the alignment spaces and the indetation tabs and so on. Then suddenly alignment can become indentation, and vice versa. The editor would then have to transparently convert existing ASCII tab characters to spaces or vice versa. This is a huge can of worms. That's another good reason to let the old ASCII tab die and rest in peace (or "lost in space" ... ok, bad pun). Best regards Oliver PS: Don't get me wrong, I'm *not* proposing to change the style(9) sections dealing with tabs. Heaven forbid! ;-) -- Oliver Fromme, secnetix GmbH & Co. KG, Marktplatz 29, 85567 Grafing b. M. Handelsregister: Registergericht Muenchen, HRA 74606, Geschäftsfuehrung: secnetix Verwaltungsgesellsch. mbH, Handelsregister: Registergericht Mün- chen, HRB 125758, Geschäftsführer: Maik Bachmann, Olaf Erb, Ralf Gebhart FreeBSD-Dienstleistungen, -Produkte und mehr: http://www.secnetix.de/bsd "Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality." -- The Dalai Lama