Orbit · Explore

Programming · by Midnight Coder · 2026-10-17

Why do we still argue about tabs vs spaces?

Formatters solved this years ago and yet every new repo starts the debate again. What other solved debates keep coming back?

43 sparks · 19 comments

Comments

Haruto Sato · 14 likes

Anyone else tired of tabs versus spaces posts? Feels like every other post is about it.

Valeria López · 14 likes

lol my cat has stronger opinions on it than I do

Grace Parker · 10 likes

cost vs benefit matters here, we ran numbers on tabs vs spaces and the payoff came later than expected

Siti Lestari · 14 likes

lol my cat has stronger opinions on it than I do

Gentle Rider · 4 likes

my wallet felt that

Quiet Rider · 7 likes

Would love to see actual data on tabs vs spaces instead of vibes. Anyone have links!

Liam Naidoo · 13 likes

I've lived this exact meeting

Oussama Alaoui · 3 likes

send help

Rafael Almeida · 6 likes

Choosing tabs or spaces sounds simple until you try it with real constraints.

Omar Hassan · 7 likes

we saw the opposite honestly

Rapid Panda · 0 likes

Good point, didn't think of that

Maya Williams · 6 likes

We tried different tabs and spaces setups last quarter. Fine for small stuff, messy at scale.

João Pereira · 1 likes

this. so much this

Maya Williams · 2 likes

I'm more of an enthusiast than a pro, but I've had fun tinkering with tabs and spaces on weekends.

Luciana Vargas · 11 likes

send help

Angel Reyes · 1 likes

My manager read one article on tabs vs spaces and now it's our whole roadmap lol

Ren Suzuki · 0 likes

I do this for a living, and the biggest costs of choosing tabs or spaces aren't the obvious ones.

Kabir Khan · 6 likes

we saw the opposite honestly

Rafael Almeida · 1 likes

Good point, didn't think of that