Re: pattern matching

On Tue, Mar 29, 2016 at 11:39:09PM -0500, Douglas Lewit [email protected] [ocaml_beginners] wrote:
> Hey Hendrik,
> 
> Large indentations don't necessarily bother me, but I remember posting a
> Python program to a Python User's Group with something like 6 spaces per
> tab, and one of the programmers gave me an earful for not following
> standard Python protocol, which is 4 spaces per tab.

I was once told that th reason for the 8 spaces was that the ncient 
teletypes had mechanical tab stops that you would place on a rod at the 
back, and that if they were more than 8 spaces apart they would break 
off.  I don't know whether this is true, but it's a good story.

>  ( This should be a
> personal choice for the programmer based on personal visual preferences,
> but some people insist on suppressing individual creativity for the sake of
> conforming to their "tried and true" standards. )

Of course what is really needed is for a file to have information in it 
to specify where the tabs are set.  This would presumably be in some 
ind of metadata extension like Apple's data fork.

> 
> Anyhow, is there a quick way to establish my preferences in Emacs?  Tabs,
> spaces, indentations, font, font colors, etc?  Thanks!

There are ways for font, and presumably for the others.  Or course 
these only specify what it looks like in emacs, not what's actually in 
the file.  But I don't know what they are.

-- hendrik