From: Kirk Haines [mailto:khaines@enigo.com]
Subject: Re: Appropriate use of camelCase
Tabs are also faster for me. It’s a tangible difference when I am
writing a lot of code, and when I am really into a coding groove it’s
always my fingers that are the >>>
limiting factor to how fast I can produce the code, so every little bit
helps.
I’m confused about the ‘speed’ argument. In pretty much any editor
worth using, hitting the tab key works the same whether you use spaces
or tab characters for tabs.
Spaces mixed with tabs can mess the indentation up (though not
necessarily), but I don’t find that to be a significant factor, for me.
Spaces after tab characters will always mess up the indentation. The
first time you try to line up parameters, assignments, etc. by adding
spaces, then you’re indentation will be a mess on another system.
As in most of these issues, it’s completely subjective. 
I’d say that’s arguable, but it’s definitely an ‘issue’ for many. 
The speed issue comes up when I am refactoring, largely. That’s when I
have to change the indentation for my code, and while Eclipse, which is
what I am using now, has a nice feature to move indentation of whole
blocks in or out, this is not a feature I’ve had before (or, well, if vim
can do this, or Kate, it’s not a feature I’ve educated myself about), so
spaces mean twice as many character to deal with (at least). It’s a
factor.
Kirk Haines
···
On Tue, 24 Feb 2004, Bennett, Patrick wrote:
I’m confused about the ‘speed’ argument. In pretty much any editor
worth using, hitting the tab key works the same whether you use spaces
or tab characters for tabs.
I use Vim, and almost never have to touch the TAB or SPACE key for
indentation purposes. Vim just puts the cursor where it should be
after I hit ENTER. Moving a set of lines in or out one indent level
is very easy (:help >), and re-auto-indenting a bunch of code is too
(:help =).
So speed is, thankfully, never an issue.
Cheers,
Gavin
···
On Wednesday, February 25, 2004, 1:11:16 AM, Kirk wrote:
On Tue, 24 Feb 2004, Bennett, Patrick wrote:
I’m confused about the ‘speed’ argument. In pretty much any editor
worth using, hitting the tab key works the same whether you use spaces
or tab characters for tabs.
The speed issue comes up when I am refactoring, largely. That’s when I
have to change the indentation for my code, and while Eclipse, which is
what I am using now, has a nice feature to move indentation of whole
blocks in or out, this is not a feature I’ve had before (or, well, if vim
can do this, or Kate, it’s not a feature I’ve educated myself about), so
spaces mean twice as many character to deal with (at least). It’s a
factor.