Re: [Htmlparser-developer] tabs

[Derrick O. <Der...@ro...>]

Tabs are an issue because of the ambiguity.  A space is a space.  A tab 
can be anything.
The original intent of tabs (in typewriters) was to allow quick columnar 
alignment.  This obviously doesn't work in electronic documents where 
the interpretation is dependant on the program used.  Try opening a file 
formatted with a tabstop setting of 4 in a program (like notepad) that 
has a hard-coded tabstop spacing of 8.  Some think that tabs conserve 
disk space (one tab is worth 8 spaces right) but hard disk space is 
pennies a megabyte and compression programs handle lots of spaces very 
nicely for transmission.  I just think they are an anachronism that's 
long since lost it's usefulness.

The Sun "Code Conventions for the Java Programming Language" available 
at http://java.sun.com/docs/codeconv is a good basis from which to 
start.  I'm adjusting it a bit to account for open source, cvs and 
htmlparser specifics.  I disagree with some of it's suggestions though, 
like:

    Four spaces should be used as the unit of indentation. The exact 
construction of the indentation (spaces vs. tabs) is unspecified. Tabs 
must be set exactly every 8 spaces (not 4).

I mean this is just sloppy. It should be:

    Four spaces should be used as the unit of indentation. The use of 
tabs, vertical tab, form-feed, carriage-return and other control 
characters, other than newline, to control displayed formatting is 
forbidden.

I hope to provide a rationale for where I have differed within the document.

Derrick
 
Somik Raha wrote:

>Hi Derrick,
>    Hmm.. If you mean that Eclipse will auto-convert tabs to spaces, maybe I
>misunderstood. As long as one does not have to press space four times...
>
>    Bytway, just curious as to why tabs are a problem in the first place..
>
>  
>
>>I'm working on a Java Coding Standards document.
>>    
>>
>
>    What do you think of the Sun coding standard?
>
>Cheers,
>Somik
>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "Derrick Oswald" <Der...@ro...>
>To: <htm...@li...>
>Sent: Tuesday, August 26, 2003 9:09 PM
>Subject: Re: [Htmlparser-developer] tabs
>
>
>  
>
>>Somik,
>>
>>The (rather meager) response to an earlier poll indicated that Eclipse
>>was the most popular by far, followed by a few NetBeans and JBuilder users.
>>    
>>
>>Replacing tabs with spaces is automatic in modern editors and IDEs.  For
>>Eclipse, you need to make the settings in the Java/Editor Typing tab.
>>You also need to make the setting in the Java/Code Formatter Style tab.
>>For Netbeans use Tools-Options-Editing-Editor Settings-Java Editor-Java
>>Indentation Engine-...-Expand Tabs To Spaces-True. I don't know how to
>>do it in JBuilder, but I know it can be done.
>>
>>I'm working on a Java Coding Standards document.
>>
>>Derrick
>>    
>>