Subject: Re: [PATCH] git-svn init/clone --stdlayout option to default-init trunk/tags/branches

From: Eric Wong <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 14 Jul 2007 04:34:35 -0700

martin f krafft <[email-masked]> wrote:
> also sprach Eric Wong <[email-masked]> [2007.07.14.1250 +0200]:
> > This looks good and useful, but can I also have a  shorthand "-s" for
> > this, too?  I'm lazy, thanks :)
> 
> Of course.
> 
> > Also, nitpicking, there's been some whitespace damage:
> > 
> > I use tab characters for indentation, and (should be using) spaces for
> > alignment.
> 
> What's the difference? Or is it simply:
> 
>   no. of tabs:   int(column / 8)
>   no. of spaces: column % 8

It's also easier/faster to navigate code with tabs since there are fewer
characters to iterate over, less granular points for indentation, making
it easier to to get to a desired indentation level.

The less granularity with tabs means I can avoid situations where where
I wonder if I'm correctly aligned with other pieces of code.  I even
have auto-indent set, but occasionally with spaces (when I work on Ruby
code) I still have problems with being off-by-one after editing
something.

There's absolutely no way I can misalign a block of code when alignment
granularity is 8 characters no matter how sleepy I get :)

I use tabs for indentation where they denote logically different code
paths / nesting.

Spaces (for alignment, not indentation) are mainly aesthetic.  I use
them in spaces when I need finer control (usually long conditionals in
if-statements that are wrapped).

Tabs can also be easily reconfigured in editors to change the amount of
screen real estate they consume.  Not really useful in git-svn since
I keep it <80 columns anyways.

> I am sorry, I tried to do it right, even paid attention to the
> tabs/spaces thing, but I guess I failed.

No worries.  The maintainers here are also very picky about trailing
whitespace and spaces that appear before tab characters, too and I
became much more disciplined about that myself the past year.

I have highlighting search set in my editor (vim :set hls)
and usually just search for spaces vs tabs to make sure I'm clean.

Of course, maintaining a consistent whitespace style helps a *lot* with
the git/Linux patch exchange development style because it avoids
needless patch application conflicts that arise from whitespace
differences.

-- 
Eric Wong