How do you indent: spaces or tabs?

EVOEx · 09-22-2009, 10:20 AM

Another thread was about this, I was just wondering: how do you indent your source code?
I prefer indenting with two spaces.

bithub · 09-22-2009, 10:37 AM

4 spaces. I used to use tabs until I realized it made the source code look different depending on what application was viewing it.

ಠ_ಠ · 09-22-2009, 10:41 AM

2 spaces

Mario F. · 09-22-2009, 10:47 AM

@Echo bithub

Sebastiani · 09-22-2009, 10:51 AM

I bet a bunch of newbies are going to read this thread and be like "huh? wuzzat???".

Anyway, one tab or 6 spaces.

**laserlight** · 09-22-2009, 10:54 AM

So, we need to periodically hold this poll so as to determine some trend?

EVOEx · 09-22-2009, 10:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by laserlight

So, we need to periodically hold this poll so as to determine some trend?

Actually, that's not a bad idea.
I didn't know this poll already existed. Although, honestly, I'm not surprised.

**laserlight** · 09-22-2009, 11:03 AM

Well, there seems to be several threads about indent style, but the one that most closely matches this poll is... How far do you indent?

bithub · 09-22-2009, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by laserlight

So, we need to periodically hold this poll so as to determine some trend?

I think this would be a good idea. It would allow us to see how everyone slowly trends from their imperfect indentation style, to the correct style of 4 spaces over time

Daved · 09-22-2009, 11:14 AM

I use tabs (set to the width of 4 spaces) because we use Visual C++ exclusively for our coding and tabs are easiest to work with.

On personal projects I often set my editor to convert tabs to spaces (still at 4 spaces per tab). For code I post on forums I have a macro that converts all tabs to 4 spaces that I run before posting since tabs don't look so good on these forums.

Sebastiani · 09-22-2009, 11:23 AM

I'd like to add that one space just isn't sufficient. On a side note, I wonder if anyone indents using only semicolens?

Kennedy · 09-22-2009, 11:26 AM

I follow Linus's lead:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Linus Torvalds

Chapter 1: Indentation

Tabs are 8 characters, and thus indentations are also 8 characters.
There are heretic movements that try to make indentations 4 (or even 2!)
characters deep, and that is akin to trying to define the value of PI to
be 3.

Rationale: The whole idea behind indentation is to clearly define where
a block of control starts and ends. Especially when you've been looking
at your screen for 20 straight hours, you'll find it a lot easier to see
how the indentation works if you have large indentations.

Now, some people will claim that having 8-character indentations makes
the code move too far to the right, and makes it hard to read on a
80-character terminal screen. The answer to that is that if you need
more than 3 levels of indentation, you're screwed anyway, and should fix
your program.

In short, 8-char indents make things easier to read, and have the added
benefit of warning you when you're nesting your functions too deep.
Heed that warning.

The preferred way to ease multiple indentation levels in a switch statement is
to align the "switch" and its subordinate "case" labels in the same column
instead of "double-indenting" the "case" labels. E.g.:

Code:

        switch (suffix) {
        case 'G':
        case 'g':
                mem <<= 30;
                break;
        case 'M':
        case 'm':
                mem <<= 20;
                break;
        case 'K':
        case 'k':
                mem <<= 10;
                /* fall through */
        default:
                break;
        }

Don't put multiple statements on a single line unless you have
something to hide:

if (condition) do_this;
do_something_everytime;

Don't put multiple assignments on a single line either. Kernel coding style
is super simple. Avoid tricky expressions.

Outside of comments, documentation and except in Kconfig, spaces are never
used for indentation, and the above example is deliberately broken.

Get a decent editor and don't leave whitespace at the end of lines.

**sean** · 09-22-2009, 11:27 AM

When I'm indenting blocks of code like functions, conditionals, etc... I use tabs.

When I'm trying to get various parts of the code to line up (like when I have very similar lines of code and I want to emphasize their similiarity and clarify the different parts of each line, I use spaces (that way it doesn't get messed up if someone uses 4-space-tabs instead of my 8-space-tabs).

edit: Linus Torvalds endorses my 8-space-tabs? YES!

**laserlight** · 09-22-2009, 11:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sean

edit: Linus Torvalds endorses my 8-space-tabs? YES!

That just makes the three of you heathens

Mario F. · 09-22-2009, 11:36 AM

Who is Linus Torvalds?

EDIT: Just found it on Wikipedia. Didn't look too impressive. But 8 space tabs surely look impressive on C++ generic programming...

View Poll Results: How do you indent?
Tabs	18	54.55%
1 space per level	0	0%
2 or 3 spaces per level	6	18.18%
4 through 6 spaces per level	7	21.21%
7+ spaces per level	2	6.06%
Voters: 33. You may not vote on this poll

09-22-2009, 10:20 AM	#1
EVOEx Registered User Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 452	How do you indent: spaces or tabs? Another thread was about this, I was just wondering: how do you indent your source code? I prefer indenting with two spaces.
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09-22-2009, 10:37 AM	#2
bithub Registered User Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: California Posts: 2,845	4 spaces. I used to use tabs until I realized it made the source code look different depending on what application was viewing it. __________________ bit∙hub [bit-huhb] n. A source and destination for information.
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09-22-2009, 10:41 AM	#3
ಠ_ಠ Banned Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 533	2 spaces __________________ ╔╗╔══╦╗ ║║║╔╗║║ ║╚╣╚╝║╚╗ ╚═╩══╩═╝
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09-22-2009, 10:47 AM	#4
Mario F. (?<!re)tired Join Date: May 2006 Location: Portugal Posts: 5,220	@Echo bithub __________________ Originally Posted by brewbuck: Reimplementing a large system in another language to get a 25% performance boost is nonsense. It would be cheaper to just get a computer which is 25% faster.
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09-22-2009, 10:51 AM	#5
Sebastiani Guest Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 4,923	I bet a bunch of newbies are going to read this thread and be like "huh? wuzzat???". Anyway, one tab or 6 spaces.
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09-22-2009, 10:54 AM	#6
laserlight C++ Witch Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Singapore Posts: 10,359	So, we need to periodically hold this poll so as to determine some trend? __________________ C + C++ Compiler: MinGW port of GCC Build + Version Control System: SCons + Bazaar Look up a C/C++ Reference and learn How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
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09-22-2009, 11:03 AM	#8
laserlight C++ Witch Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Singapore Posts: 10,359	Well, there seems to be several threads about indent style, but the one that most closely matches this poll is... How far do you indent? __________________ C + C++ Compiler: MinGW port of GCC Build + Version Control System: SCons + Bazaar Look up a C/C++ Reference and learn How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
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09-22-2009, 11:14 AM	#10
Daved Registered User Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 7,137	I use tabs (set to the width of 4 spaces) because we use Visual C++ exclusively for our coding and tabs are easiest to work with. On personal projects I often set my editor to convert tabs to spaces (still at 4 spaces per tab). For code I post on forums I have a macro that converts all tabs to 4 spaces that I run before posting since tabs don't look so good on these forums.
Daved is offline

09-22-2009, 11:23 AM	#11
Sebastiani Guest Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 4,923	I'd like to add that one space just isn't sufficient. On a side note, I wonder if anyone indents using only semicolens?
Sebastiani is offline

09-22-2009, 11:27 AM	#13
sean Super Moderator Join Date: Sep 2001 Posts: 4,680	When I'm indenting blocks of code like functions, conditionals, etc... I use tabs. When I'm trying to get various parts of the code to line up (like when I have very similar lines of code and I want to emphasize their similiarity and clarify the different parts of each line, I use spaces (that way it doesn't get messed up if someone uses 4-space-tabs instead of my 8-space-tabs). edit: Linus Torvalds endorses my 8-space-tabs? YES!
sean is offline

09-22-2009, 11:36 AM	#15
Mario F. (?<!re)tired Join Date: May 2006 Location: Portugal Posts: 5,220	Who is Linus Torvalds? EDIT: Just found it on Wikipedia. Didn't look too impressive. But 8 space tabs surely look impressive on C++ generic programming... __________________ Originally Posted by brewbuck: Reimplementing a large system in another language to get a 25% performance boost is nonsense. It would be cheaper to just get a computer which is 25% faster. Last edited by Mario F.; 09-22-2009 at 11:41 AM.
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