On 06.04.2013 06:53, Ian Kelly wrote:
On Fri, Apr 5, 2013 at 6:22 PM, <terminato...@gmail.com> wrote:
The correct tab stop positions have always been at 8 character columns apart.
The "ambiguity" was introduced by editors that do not follow the default value
set in hardware like printers or used by consoles and terminal emulators.
8 characters is common, but no more "correct" than any other, as tab
width has never been standardized. You talk of not wanting tab
options imposed on you, but consider that treating tabs as 8-character
stops imposes that setting on anybody who needs to work with your
mixed-indentation code.
And now python forces me out of using any tab characters at all. I believe I
should still have a choice, python should at lest give an option to set tab
size, if the default of 8 is ambiguous now.
And then changing that setting could change the meaning of the code,
which would be a disaster for code that you want to distribute.
8-character tab stops should be the default. Debating that is I believe
another topic, and compatibility with python2 should be enough to make
that debate unnecessary.
You are right, to change the tab size means to change the meaning of the
code, and that would be wrong. Can't argue with that.
What I want is an option to use the tabs as I have used them in the
past, with the default size. Since "ambiguity" about the tab size
appears to be the cause for new python 3 rules, I though of an option
the make that size explicit. I still think users should somehow have a
way to use a tab stop of their choice, but how this could be achieved
properly is another problem.
I guess a discussion like this thread is the price to be paid for
relying solely on white space to delimit code blocks, like the python
syntax does.
Thank you,
Timothy Madden
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