Wether spaces or tabs are better in source files is a matter of taste and a language should not force me to use one or another.
Well note that it doesn't only confuse compilers: if you post code for other people to read (whose display software has their personal own interpretation of what a tab character means) it may be confusingly formatted (for C like languages) or downright meaning changed (Haskell, python). I know I certainly hate reading/patching source code in any language when the original writer used tab characters because you have to play the `figure out what interpretation of tab produces sensibly laid-code' game and then temporarily reset your editor to that. (You can probably tell that I much prefer the mechanism where the tab key is a configurable input mechanism but the representation in the file is an unambiguous one using spaces) . I think it's really the fault of ASCII for allowing the tab character code which has user-defined semantics, just like the other abomination the form-feed character. ___cheers,_dave_________________________________________________________ www.cs.bris.ac.uk/~tweed/ | `It's no good going home to practise email:tweed@cs.bris.ac.uk | a Special Outdoor Song which Has To Be work tel:(0117) 954-5250 | Sung In The Snow' -- Winnie the Pooh