Tabs Vs Spaces war is back on and my side just won a battle :) (1 Viewer)

[Gromett]

Linus Torvalds is absolutely correct on this

Linus Torvalds reiterates his tabs-versus-spaces stance with a kernel trap

One does not simply suggest changing a kernel line to help out a parsing tool.

arstechnica.com

 

[Nigel Crompton]

Love it. But then, Linux is far behind me now ...
El Reg's take:
"So, rather than a savagely critical email response, he is knowingly and with malice aforethought using more complicated indentation in order to expose tools that can't handle it. It should weed out the weaker tools, leaving only the fitter, better-adapted ones… while not publicly hurting anyone's feelings.
Think of it as evolution in action"

 

[David and Sally]

If I said I understood any of that I would be lying. In English please.

 

[Gromett]

If I said I understood any of that I would be lying. In English please.

The linux kernel, the heart of the OS is written in a language called C. The original standard for this language uses tabs between components of a line instead of spaces.
Tabs are enforced in the Linux code base to ensure consistency.

A person decided to change one part of the code to uses spaces because the code testing tool he uses broke on that one line. So rather than fixing the tool he decided to change the linux code base and break the standard.

Torvalds then looked at it and could see why the code checker couldn't handle that particular tab, and spattered a bunch of them around the code base to break that tool completely. This will provoke the developers of that tool to fix their tool and make it better.

Hope that makes sense?

Here is an example;

Hopefully you can see the lines.
65 and 72 is indented by 1 tab.
67-71 by 2 tabs with 70 by 3.

This makes it more readable as the braces {} which separate segments of code are now easy to see. and you can see the functional blocks of text.

The spaces people want to replace the single tab indents with multiples of 2,4 or even 8 spaces instead of a single tab.

 

[Gromett]

PS: if anyone is wondering why there is no data validation before the delete($assistant_id) it is because the auth code and validation is done in the delete function.
Rather than repeating it in multiple places before calling the delete function I just call the delete function and do the validation once. (just in case anyone was wondering)

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[The Coops]

Nope it could be in Klingon for all I know!

 

[David and Sally]

I

PS: if anyone is wondering why there is no data validation before the delete($assistant_id) it is because the auth code and validation is done in the delete function.
Rather than repeating it in multiple places before calling the delete function I just call the delete function and do the validation once. (just in case anyone was wondering)

I did spot that but assumed you knew what you were doing so didn’t mention it

 

[Nigel Crompton]

PS: if anyone is wondering why there is no data validation before the delete($assistant_id) it is because the auth code and validation is done in the delete function.
Rather than repeating it in multiple places before calling the delete function I just call the delete function and do the validation once. (just in case anyone was wondering)

I might've noticed 25 years ago ...

 

[meanders]

While this is a specific Linux issue, it still astounds me how many people align text in Word etc using multiple spaces rather than the tab key or the text alignment tool.

I was sent a poster a couple of weeks ago someone had prepared In Word because it wasn't printing properly on the originators printer.

The first line was about 20 spaces then "QUIZ NIGHT". So I deleted all the spaces then centred the text before looking on, giving up and firing up Publisher. I recreated the whole thing quicker than it would taken me in Word. Amazing what using the right tool for the job does. Sent it back as a PDF she couldn't destroy.

Edit to add. Other word processors and graphical poster prep apps are available.

 

[Gromett]

While this is a specific Linux issue

The Tab vs Spaces issue is across the board. Linux, Windows, Mac, Unix, mainframe you name it
There are a number of religious wars in the computer community I think this is the top one.
Tabs vs Spaces
Vi vs Emacs
Atari vs Amiga

Those are the three that spring to mind. I always have a laugh when one surfaces.

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[acropolis22]

Shouldn't there be a health warning on this thread? I feel like I just fried about 10 million brain cells. And I still can't think of a way this will improve my motorhoming experience.

 

[meanders]

I could add a few.

On board graphics card Vs separate card(s).
STP Vs UTP Cat grade cables.
In SQL Stored procedures Vs Functions

 

[meanders]

And I still can't think of a way this will improve my motorhoming experience.

It could be useful when pitching on a busy aire with marked bays. A Tab on the steering wheel would get you perfectly aligned so you wouldn't have to worry about the spaces each side!

 

[Gromett]

Shouldn't there be a health warning on this thread? I feel like I just fried about 10 million brain cells. And I still can't think of a way this will improve my motorhoming experience.

It is in the computer section not the motorhome section

 

[acropolis22]

It is in the computer section not the motorhome section

I know, I was only kidding.

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[DuxDeluxe]

Είναι όλα ελληνικά για μένα

 

[meanders]

Είναι όλα ελληνικά για μένα

Αυτό είναι καλό. Χαίρομαι που ακολουθείτε τον κώδικα.

 

[Tombola]

Αυτό είναι καλό. Χαίρομαι που ακολουθείτε τον κώδικα.

and theres me hoping you had typed
"its all greek to me"

 

[Tombola]

It is in the computer section not the motorhome section

Didnt even know we had a computer section....
there really is a "SPACE" for everything on the board isn't there

 

[meanders]

and theres me hoping you had typed
"its all greek to me"

I don't usually mimic a previous poster who did write about it all being Greek! Just replied in kind, .

Question, what to the Greeks say? It's all English to them?

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[Taran_Las]

OS/370 Assembler didn't give a damn

 

[meanders]

OS/370 Assembler didn't give a damn

Did they have a Tab key back then? I don't think NCR 82XX running IMOS dealt with tabs either. I I remember rightly when outputting to screen or printer you had to pass the start position on the line with the text to display. 1st tab recollection was IBM 3270.

 

[Tombola]

I don't usually mimic a previous poster who did write about it all being Greek! Just replied in kind, .

Question, what to the Greeks say? It's all English to them?

Oh...ha I didn't realise..
I'm obviously blocked by whoever posted number 16

 

[Taran_Las]

Did they have a Tab key back then? I don't think NCR 82XX running IMOS dealt with tabs either. I I remember rightly when outputting to screen or printer you had to pass the start position on the line with the text to display. 1st tab recollection was IBM 3270.

If I remember correctly 3270 was the 1st device (family) which allowed a 'tab to next address' buffer order.

 

[Nirvanauk]

Did they have a Tab key back then? I don't think NCR 82XX running IMOS dealt with tabs either. I I remember rightly when outputting to screen or printer you had to pass the start position on the line with the text to display. 1st tab recollection was IBM 3270.

I agree I can't remember the 82XX dealing with tabs either. Gosh, weren't those days fun!

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[meanders]

I agree I can't remember the 82XX dealing with tabs either. Gosh, weren't those days fun!

Yep.... Failed disk drive (pulley belt) repaired using a pair of ladies tights. We traded the rest of the day on them.

Yep .... Driving to Heathrow for a flight to Newcastle with a removable disc under my arm to get a store trading.

Yep ... Getting called at 8:30am Boxing Day because the Scottish store was open but no 'sale' items on the system, then spending all day and evening updating the English Stores after a simple JCL error on the Christmas Eve mainframe job meant the wrong prices were sent to the stores. NCR had said we would never get the 8200 to communicate with the IBM mainframe... Oh yes we did. Automatically every night.

Yep.... managing to keep trading in one store when the A?C in the machine room failed and the temperature went sky high. Tray of ice from the fish counter with a fan on the floor outside the room blowing cold air in the wedged open door.

Great fun! But memorable.

 

[Nirvanauk]

Ha if you had a removable disc under your arm it must have been from a 656 drive and a whopping capacity of 5MB!

 

[meanders]

Ha if you had a removable disc under your arm it must have been from a 656 drive and a whopping capacity of 5MB!

Yes. I had a crashed platter on the office wall for many years from one of those.

 

[David and Sally]

You lot live in a parallel universe

 

[meanders]

You lot live in a parallel universe

I have been known to run 4 universes of DMX on big shows, but they are all discrete though rather than parallel as you can only get 1024 channels per universe. Not sure I have ever lived in one though. The cables are very thin!

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