← Back to context

Comment by _visgean

3 years ago

Never had this happen, this is largely eliminated by using tools like black or other autoformatters.

I feel that the main point still stands, though. Saying that Python doesn't have a whitespace problem because you can send the code through a tool that detects whitespace-related problems still acknowledges the existence of said problem.

The point still stands that this is an inherit possibility in the language it self.

  • Well, in C the visual indentation and the meaning of the code (given by {}) can diverge. That's even worse, and happens in practice. Many style guidelines for C have evolved specifically to address that problem with 'the language itself'.

  • I think its more of an tooling issue. If your editor / diff viewer cant differentiate between different whitespaces get a better one. Also if you want to ensure some function isnt in local scope etc just test it.

And/or linters.

This issue is no worse that having multiple different variables that look the same and only in their obscure same-looking unicode symbols.

A linter can handle this. As can a decent font, or editor settings.