Indentation, tabs, and spaces (was re: [PATCH] support: Implement TEST_COMPARE_STRING)

[David Newall]

On 8/11/18 11:07 am, Joseph Myers wrote:
> On Thu, 8 Nov 2018, David Newall wrote:
>> Reformatting makes it difficult to see what was changed using diff and so, in
> Naturally it should be done in a separate commit from any substative changes

I fear you missed my point.  When looking to see what changed between 
two versions, bulk formatting changes hide what you need to see.

> *Not* reformatting makes parts of the code hard to read, and hard to edit
> (as you need to keep fixing up indentation manually every line when
> editing code not following the normal style), and in practice the
> hard-to-read issue gets worse over time as the formatting does not stay
> consistent with a style people aren't familiar with maintaining code in.

I totally disagree that tabs vs spaces makes code hard to read. As to 
having to adjust your own practices to follow prevailing style, I wish 
there was a kinder answer than "bad luck", but there isn't.  I think no 
three programmers agree 100% on style issues, and that's just life.  I 
doubt there is more than a tiny minority that love the indenting in 
glibc, but it is what it is.

I cannot overstate how a terrible idea I think edits are that merely 
adjust formatting, nor how hard it makes subsequent code analysis.

I've worked as a programmer for more than 40 years, so I feel I speak 
with considerable experience.  Do not do this.