Figure out if they prefer spaces or tabs, insist on the other.
Please note this won't work on Pythonistas as they've already had their spirit thoroughly broken.
this post was submitted on 01 Mar 2025
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What if you use tabs for indentations and space for alignment?
It's alright... but have you considered spaces for indentation and tabs for alignment?
Uh, that would be infuriating to see. (Yes, I can see tabs in KDE Kate)
I feel like this is a debate that doesn't exist - 4 spaces bound to tab is the only actual answer.
Hard tabs are much better as someone who works with an age diverse team where vision issues are a serious issue. Four space tabs are optimal for you but there are other lived experiences.
most things seem to have settled on this, but tabs are so much better for accessibility. programmers with bad vision can have trouble differentiating smaller indentation levels, while some of them just bump the font size up so high that 4 spaces takes up too much screen space. each one can set a tab width that is comfortable for them. https://alexandersandberg.com/articles/default-to-tabs-instead-of-spaces-for-an-accessible-first-environment/ has some good arguments
with a forced formatter and a configured editor there really isn't any argument for spaces