4
murlis
7y

Why is there so much hatred for people who use spaces instead of tabs?
I use tabs out of habit but I don't understand why people have to fucking hate the ones who use spaces so much

Comments
  • 1
    I use spaces :D
  • 6
    It frustrates me, not tabbing makes code harder to read if it isn't aligned correctly. If I need to remove anything that is nesting something else, I don't have to press backspace ten times to align it again, per line. If I want to indent text why should I bash the space bar multiple times when I can simply tab it.

    Also most of the time when I tab, it stores the indentation for the next line. If I used spaces I am pretty sure it wouldn't.

    I am OCD when it comes to formatting and it helps me greatly when debugging.
  • 1
    @sionc I use Vim and you can set tab to represent however many spaces you want. You also wouldnt backspace every space one at a time with Vim. New line auto indentation works as well.
  • 1
    If your write code blocks big enough that spaces vs tabs makes a difference while debugging you got bigger problems.
  • 2
    Spaces are vastly superior to tabs. And my understanding is that most/many programmers feel this way?
  • 2
    @sionc I know these advantages but why hate someone just for being accustomed of doing it a particular way
  • 3
    @murlis I don't understand where the word hate came from, it's a pretty strong word. I simply said that it frustrates me.

    I do a lot of Web Development, and tabs make your file sizes considerably smaller, an absolute requirement when most of your business comes from locations that still run dial up. (I know all about minification and with this in mind there is zero difference to file size.)

    I also find it to be more consistent, it takes less time than tapping space four times (if you abide by the 4-space rule.)

    It could be that I've been programming for a fair few years and this was just the standard when I was learning (html in the 90s in notepad.)

    Next up: Should a line break before or after a binary operator.

    P.s. I think my formatting is pretty organized for any other developer that picks up my work.
  • 2
    @sionc again you get me wrong I feel, I never said it as you in particular, but I was just curious as to all this spaces vs tabs thing being taken so seriously. Again ik the good points you make but if I saw a person using single space or four spaces it wouldn't make much of a difference to me, it's his choice. But I've seen many arguments pertaining to it and was just curious as to how this started. Just see @megabait being comfortable with spaces
  • 2
    No one is tapping their space bar four times. You are right about the file size, but that is pretty much the only argument for using tabs.
  • 3
    @megabait I've seen it quite often, then again I've taught a fair few juniors. As far as I'm concerned it is completely down to preference however it does ache when I open up a new file and there are single spaces. As I mentioned above, I am OC about formatting, and I find it hard to read code that isn't formatted the way I've always written it. :)
  • 0
  • 0
    @megabait in what way are spaces "vastly superior" over tabs?
  • 1
    Tab tab tab
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