[Haskell-i18n] Unicode in source

Glynn Clements glynn.clements@virgin.net
Sat, 24 Aug 2002 00:28:32 +0100


Marcin 'Qrczak' Kowalczyk wrote:

> > (I'd go further and require that the leading white-space always be
> > identical, not just get you to the same column.  Tabs are not always
> > equal to 8 spaces...)
> 
> Choosing a non-standard tab width is evil. They should be 8 spaces
> always and life would be a bit simpler.

Tab stops are *every 8 columns*. The "width" of an individual tab
character is between 1 and 8 columns, depending upon column in which
the tab character occurs.

Pedantry aside, I agree with your presumed meaning. The magic number
is 8. If anyone wishes to believe otherwise, then fine; so long as
they don't expect the rest of the world to share their delusion.

I can see the sense in prohibiting mixing of tabs and spaces, even at
the beginning of the line (e.g. due to citation marks in email). OTOH,
I can also see how this is asking for trouble; expect the phrase "but
it looks OK in my editor" to become commonplace.

-- 
Glynn Clements <glynn.clements@virgin.net>