On Mar 6, 2005, at 11:43 PM, Craig White wrote:
> On Sun, 2005-03-06 at 22:34 -0700, Joseph Sinclair wrote:
>> Most "programmers' editors" have an option to use spaces instead of
>> tabs, and to set the number of spaces to use.
>> Emacs has commands (look for "tabify" and "untabify" in the online
>> help) to replace tabs with spaces, and vice-versa with a single
>> keystroke.
>>
>> Note: Most programmers prefer to use spaces instead of tabs because
>> tab sizes vary between machines, programs, and even within a single
>> program.  As long as a fixed-width font is used, spaces are always the
>> same size.  This helps a lot when reviewing code written by someone
>> else, as it ensures that things line up correctly on the reviewer's
>> system.
> ----
> thanks - tabify - that sounds like what I am looking for...I only have
> this very very mini emacs book which is what I use to find the keyboard
> shortcuts and tabify thingies aren't mentioned. I suppose I'll figure
> out how to get online help.
>
> As for tabs vs. spaces...when I'm a lone wolf, tabs seem to suit me
> better but I don't question the wisdom they are expressing since they
> are obviously extremely experienced coders - something that I 
> definitely
> am not.

Excellent Emacs reference Wiki is available called, appropriately, 
EmacsWiki. It's available at http://www.emacswiki.org. Through them, I 
found an article by Jamie Zawinski at
http://www.jwz.org/doc/tabs-vs-spaces.html about the differences 
between tabs and spaces, and where and why each are used. Believe it or 
not, this particular paper was key in making a coding guidelines 
decision at a previous place of work. =o)

In any case, they have quite a bit of information on how to do many 
common things that aren't quickly referenced in most Emacs books.

HTH

--
June Tate * http://www.theonelab.com * june@theonelab.com