TABS in the CPython C source code

[Nobody]

On Sat, 06 Feb 2010 21:31:52 +0100, Alf P. Steinbach wrote:

> The size-8 tabs look really bad in an editor configured with tab size 4,
> as is common in Windows. I'm concluding that the CPython programmers
> configure their Visual Studio's to *nix convention.

8-column tabs aren't a "*nix convention"; that's been the norm since
the mechanical typewriter.

Historically, software and hardware which knows what a "tab" could be
split into two categories:

1. Tab stops are fixed at 8-column intervals.
2. Tab stops default to 8-column intervals but can be changed.

Recently, a third category has appeared (tab stops default to something
other than 8 columns). The most common example is Visual Studio. No
surprise there: Microsoft has a track record of introducing slight
incompatibilities into established standards. Just enough to inconvenience
anyone using competing products, but not so much that anyone operating
in a context where Microsoft isn't dominant has to abandon Microsoft's
product.

Given that:

1. 8-column tabs have been the standard for longer than most of us
have been alive, let alone programming, and
2. even if a particular text editor supports some other value, there is no
way to communicate this fact to anything else which might read the code,

the logical conclusion is that using anything other than 8 columns lies
somewhere between "silly" and "assuming the world revolves around you".