Re: mg: how to indent using spaces instead of tabs

On 2022-06-07 16:07 -0700, obsdml@loopw.com wrote:
> Mixing tabbed and spaced indenting is horrific in an indent specified
> language.

Unfortunately, that is precisely what mg's auto-indent-mode does.

This Python file uses four spaces for indentation:

if True:
while True:
print('Hello')

Let's open that file in mg and enable auto-indent-mode. If we move our
cursor to the end of the third line, press "Enter", mg will use a tab
for indentation.

if True:
while True:
print('Hello')
print('world')

As you probably know, Python will complain if a mix of tabs and spaces
is used:


File "example.py", line 4
print('world')
^
TabError: inconsistent use of tabs and spaces in indentation


If the size of the tab on screen is 8 spaces, it will not be possible to
visually distinguish between tabs and spaces ... mg doesn't have a
setting to visually distinguish between tabs and spaces (something
similar to ':set list' in vi).

Because it so strongly prioritizes tabs, it appears that mg is
unsuitable for programming Python with other people when other people
use spaces for indentation.