From: Brian I. <in...@tt...> - 2002-01-08 21:51:28
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On 08/01/02 10:03 +0200, Oren Ben-Kiki wrote: > > I have another related quandry. Assume that we allow tabs in > > indentation > > (which we will need to). What happens when tabs cross the > > indentation border? > > *Certainly* work of the devil. > > > foo: ^3 > > ___First line > > -(tab)->Second line > > ___---->Third Line > > ... > > > > Is the second line: > > - An error > > An error. I *really* want this to be an error. Whoa! Bad choice IMO. Ordinary users will not be aware of tabs that their editor inserts. Since we seem to agree that tabs must mean "move to next column of 8", then let's just prenormalize any tab that comes before the first non-space of a given line. Turn leading tabs into spaces first, then the user will get what she expected, regardless of whether or not she is aware of the tabs. > > > 3. Look ahead, but if no non-space is found within 9 > > > spaces, take the > > > indentation to be 1. This works nicely with using a single digit for > > > specifying indentation amount. Indentation will *always* be > > > in the range > > > 1-9. This means that: > > > > > > this: ^ > > > __________Has 9 leading spaces > > > and this: ^ > > > ________Has none > > > > > > Which we think is too confusing. > > > > I should have read ahead :) > > > > OK. This is a little icky. > > Right. > > > > 4. Do not look ahead. If the first line is all spaces, they > > > are all taken to > > > be indentation. If there isn't enough spaces (like a > > > completely empty line), > > > the indentation is taken to be the minimum - 1. > > > > OK. But to a maximum of 9 chars. > > OK, but... > > > > case 1: ^ > > > > > > ____Starts with \n and 3 spaces. > > > > > > case 2: ^ > > > ________ > > > ________Is indented 10 spaces. > > > > Nope. 9 spaces. I think that's easy to explain. > > If it has 9 spaces and a single leading space, that's option #3 - isn't it? Not at all. #3 says that if you go too far, you reset to 1. This says if you go too far you reset to a max of 9. Much more intuitive (relatively speaking :) Now let's go with a max of 8 (which is still single digit) instead of 9. I think saying that "the max indentation is 8" will seem more sane to the general public. If we go with 9, some wanker will start complaining that it should be 10 or 12 or unlimited, etc. I just don't have the patience to deal with that kind of banter. Cheers, Brian |