Re: Spaces rather than tabs by a major mode hook

[Emanuel Berg <incal@dataswamp.org>]

Jean Louis wrote:

> I can think that sources from past may have its cultural
> significance. Reformatting such sources may rather be
> destructive for the full understanding of the
> programming roots.
>
> Other fact is that various editors simply do not indent same
> way the same language or markup, as there are too many
> different subjective assumptions and attempts to impose
> these or those rules.
>
> Frustration as result is understandable.
>
> I cannot find anything about indentation in Emacs GUI menu.
> But I can find indentation settings in editor such as Leo
> (most similar to Emacs), Mousepad, or Notepadqq or Gvim.
> In Emacs "Options Menu" it appears there is more importance
> if cursor is to blink or not and if tool bar, tab bar and
> menu bar are shown or not shown, while many other useful
> user options are not there.
>
> And Emacs users will stick to their habits and will say,
> well, if you wish to customize anything use setq or
> customize options. However, it may reject users or create
> esoteric impressions, that Emacs is not for everybody, but
> rather for advanced users.
>
> As a quick test, when I imagine I am Notepadqq user and now
> coming to Emacs, I was used as Notepadqq user to easily find
> option under Edit -> Indentation -> where I could choose
> Smart Indentation, Custom or Default Settings. I do not say
> it is better than what... (Emacs), I just give it as
> example. Then I open up Emacs and then I cannot find
> anything about indentation. If I go to top level group and
> write "indent" I get bunch of words I am not used to, like
> "Latex Indent Comment Start Regexp" and "Bibtex Contline
> Indentation" and so on, there is no way I can understand
> easily on the 74th line what is "Electric Indent Mode" just
> by looking into customization option. In fact if I click on
> "More" which implies the meaning to be "more information",
> I am faced with this happy greeting:
>
>   See the ‘electric-indent-mode’ command for a description
>   of this minor mode. Setting this variable directly does
>   not take effect; either customize it (see the info node
>   ‘Easy Customization’) or call the function
>   ‘electric-indent-mode’.
>
> So, tell me, how am I supposed as user to get some
> indentation settings without going through bushes of torns
> until I come to full understanding what is going on?

How will an unenlightened person reach a state
of enlightenment?

I have to give it to you here, Jean, I don't know!

> By the way, when I click "More" the function
> `electric-indent-mode' on that place is not linked to
> anything, I cannot just click on it to understand it, and
> what follows is that me as a user of Notepadqq, Gvim, or
> Mousepad editor on GNU/Linux, I simply cannot find a common
> option, I cannot find it, even though I used customization
> search feature, I wrote "indent" and I got bunch of
> nonsense, no real guidance, I cannot possibly do it, neither
> I can understand "how to see `electric-indent-mode' command
> for a description of this minor mode".
>
> The above small analysis is there to demonstrate differences
> to editors and difficulties.

If only you could be passionate about it!

-- 
underground experts united
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