[Koha-devel] Tab stops in source code

[Ambrose Li]

2008/11/12 Rick Welykochy <rick at praxis.com.au>:
> # Please use 8-character tabs for this file (indents are every 4 characters)
>
> Does this mean that tabs should not be used for indentation,
> since a tab would indent 8 character positions in the source?
>
> Does this imply that we should be using FOUR SPACES for each indent
> level?
>
> If the answer to the latter is yes, I must register my protest.
>
> Might I suggest that we adopt a an indentation standard that makes
> use of the TAB character, and that the tab stop be set to 4 character
> positions?
>
> As it stands, much of the Koha source code is difficult to read
> and suffers from a variety of inconsistent indentation styles.

I remember the same discussion from the time when I was active in
Koha, and I happen to hold the opposite position (i.e., I agree that
we should be using four spaces to indent, tabs when thee should be
eight spaces).

As far as I can see, whether you agree or oppose depends on how you
read source and what program you use to edit files. For people who
reads source in xterms and edit with vi, indenting with tabs is
unnatural and makes the source extremely hard to read; for people who
use graphical editors, they would prefer tabs.

Since I am no longer active in Koha, my opinions don't matter much,
but I just wish to point out that normally Perl code (at least those
that come with Perl itself) is indented with 4 spaces (so that they
appear correctly when browsed with, for example, less), not with tabs.
-- 
cheers,
-ambrose

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