Re: Spaces rather than tabs by a major mode hook

[Jean Louis <bugs@gnu.support>]

* Emanuel Berg <incal@dataswamp.org> [2022-06-13 06:04]:
> Jean Louis wrote:
> 
> >> Using Emacs makes no sense at all if one doesn't want
> >> automatic (re)indentation. Why use such a powerful editor
> >> if all you want is to disable each and every feature which
> >> makes its powerful?
> >
> > Maybe manual shall have a section about disabling indentation.
> 
> Indentation should always be used and the more it can be
> automated the better.

Programmers' indentation is akin to holy war.

Read the quote:

,----
| "Many early programmers used tab characters to indent, for ease of
| typing and to save on source file size"
`----

from:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indentation_style#Tabs,_spaces,_and_size_of_indentations

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?

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.

-- 
Jean

Take action in Free Software Foundation campaigns:
https://www.fsf.org/campaigns

In support of Richard M. Stallman
https://stallmansupport.org/