The flexibility of setting your own tab stops is one of the PROBLEMS with embedding tab characters in source code. How can I replace the tabs in your file if I do not know what tab stops you were using? I think that EMACS does have a way of embedding a comment into the top of the file that would at least tell EMACS what tab stops to use.

On Wed, 28 Mar 2012 12:57:56 -0500, Joe Matise <snoopy369@GMAIL.COM> wrote:

>I think that tabs are appropriate in the modern age. Not only are they >expected by developers nowadays (.NET, etc. developers make liberal use of >tabs, and my CS classes all taught tabs a decade and a half ago even), but >they are far more customizable than spaces. Any editor I use has the >option to determine the number of spaces a tab stop has; I certainly don't >have 8 spaces for mine. If you like small indents, then set it to 2; if >you like large indents, set it to 4 or 5. Your choice. Spaces don't give >you that choice; and they don't have the flexibility of going forwards and >backwards like tabs do. > >Also, most good editors have the ability to remove tab characters in a text >file if you ask it to and replace them with the appropriate number of >spaces. So if I put tabs in my program, you're free to remove them in your >copy :) > >-Joe > >On Wed, Mar 28, 2012 at 12:44 PM, Tom Abernathy <tom.abernathy@gmail.com>wrote: > >> Tabs in source code is a maintenance nightmare. >> Tabs stops in most editors are set to 8 spaces, this can cause a program >> with more than 3 levels of indents to be unreadable. >> >> The "UNenhanced" SAS program editor has very nice commands you can type in >> the line numbers for shifting text. >,>>,<,<<,(,((,),)) >> >> >> On Wed, 28 Mar 2012 13:30:51 -0400, Quentin McMullen >> <qmcmullen.sas@GMAIL.COM> wrote: >> >> >I vote for spaces, not tab characters. >> > >> >Because I like using the tab key, I have Enhanced Editor set to insert two >> >spaces when I press tab, rather than a tab character. >> > >> >When I get code full of real tabs, I often end up converting the tabs to >> >spaces, if I'm going to have to use it for more than a little while... >> > >> >--Q. >> > >> >On Wed, 28 Mar 2012 13:15:17 -0400, Bolotin Yevgeniy >> ><YBolotin@SCHOOLS.NYC.GOV> wrote: >> > >> >>What WILL the others think? >> >> >> >>-----Original Message----- >> >>From: Data _null_; [mailto:iebupdte@gmail.com] >> >>Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2012 1:13 PM >> >>To: Bolotin Yevgeniy >> >>Subject: Re: Coding Standards >> >> >> >>You have it backwards. SAS program files should not contain real tab >> >>characters. Ask the list. I will be interested to see what others >> >>think. >> >> >>