From owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Apr 2 08:10:30 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 C044D106566B for ; Thu, 2 Apr 2009 08:10:30 +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 282278FC23 for ; Thu, 2 Apr 2009 08:10:29 +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 n328A5Jl008623; Thu, 2 Apr 2009 10:10:28 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from oliver.fromme@secnetix.de) Received: (from olli@localhost) by lurza.secnetix.de (8.14.3/8.14.3/Submit) id n328A5Gl008622; Thu, 2 Apr 2009 10:10:05 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from olli) Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2009 10:10:05 +0200 (CEST) Message-Id: <200904020810.n328A5Gl008622@lurza.secnetix.de> From: Oliver Fromme To: freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG In-Reply-To: <49D4011F.5080003@utoronto.ca> 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, 02 Apr 2009 10:10:29 +0200 (CEST) Cc: Subject: Re: Why?? (prog question) X-BeenThere: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Non technical items related to the community List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 02 Apr 2009 08:10:31 -0000 William Gordon Rutherdale wrote: > [...] I don't think I've ever written the word "dedent" in my > life, at least until this paragraph. In fact, I'm not convinced > that it IS a word. It's a technical term, sometimes used in the context of code editors to denote the opposite of indent. For example, suppose I have this in my editor: def somefunction (myargs): if somecondition: return 42 The cursore is behind the "42". Now I press , and the cursor goes to column 8 in the next line, right below the "r" of the return command. This feature is called auto-indent. Now I press the key *once*, and the cursor goes back four positions so it is below the "i" of the if command. This feature is called dedent. It doesn't actually matter whether those positions are represented with tabs or spaces internally. In fact I don't *want* to know. The editor should do the right thing if it is configured correctly. Regarding the "modern editors" that I mentioned: These features existed in editors 15 years ago already, so my definition of "modern" is not that narrow. Also, most incarnations of vi support these features today, but there are a few exceptions (for example, /usr/bin/vi on Solaris is a little bit brain-damaged, but you can easily install vim from a package). Best regards Oliver -- 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 "Perl will consistently give you what you want, unless what you want is consistency." -- Larry Wall