Indent your code using tabs or spaces

Conclusion

• create an indentation workflow that works regardless of the indentation style
  • use [Tab] to create indentation
  • use [Ctrl + Arrow right] to skip indentation
• IDE’s make difference negligible
• it’s a project decision not a developer one
• you will have to use both

Nevertheless, people love to argue especially about highly controversial topics like this one. So despite it being mainly irrelevant, here are a few points for project decisions

Default implementation

Pressing [Tab] in different environments has different affects.

Move to the right until…

1. the current column is a multiple of 8 (Unix systems, Ecams, Vim)
2. the current column is a multiple of 4 (Windows)
3. the next tab stop (Microsoft Word)

Spaces

• can be entered and pasted in all environments like terminals, publishings and browsers
• consistent cursor speed when going through

Tabs

• a character specifically meant for indentation
• customize indentation visualization according to developer’s preferences without changing the code thus separating data and presentation
• seamlessly import code without half-indenting or misalignment due to different indentation sizes
• noticeable mistakes in the level of indentation
• don’t micro manage spaces
• are consistent, they are only used for indentation, unless you are commenting wrong.
• less storage size
• take less time to go through

Secondary indentation using spaces

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Sources:

• 2022-06-14: Style Guide for Python Code (PEP8)
• 2022-06-14: Death to the Space Infidels!
• 2022-06-14: Tabs versus Spaces: An Eternal Holy War
• 2022-06-14: Tabs versus spaces — What is the proper indentation character?

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