[andai]

This just seems like a limitation of the technology. When you change the width of one column, the whole table should realign, without any changes to those parts of the file (it's just about how it's displayed).

I recall reading something about "tab stops" that solved this problem, but I don't think there are any mainstream implementations of it.

[archseer]

I think you mean elastic tab stops https://nickgravgaard.com/elastic-tabstops/

[operator-name]

Elastic tabstops actually mentions the input font in its "see also" section!

[Rafert]

Tab stops are called out in the footnotes:

> Never attempt to line up text by using spaces. The only exception is if you are using a monospaced font. But in word processing applications, there are appropriate tools available for lining up text, like tables[1] and tab stops[2].

[1]: https://practicaltypography.com/tables.html [2]: https://practicaltypography.com/tabs-and-tab-stops.html

[mmis1000]

tab stops is still available in terminals. Tab in terminal move the cursor to next x*8(depends on setting) position independent of what character you input before.

But a major flaw is that it only works when your cell has less than 8 characters. Or it will go to the wrong stop. Which isn't that common today.

Because why insist in short names and 80 width character limit? Almost everyone have a screen that can fit hundreds of characters per line today.

[eru]

> Because why insist in short names and 80 width character limit? Almost everyone have a screen that can fit hundreds of characters per line today.

Yet, books don't work that way, even though we have the technology. Long lines aren't readable. There's a reason newspapers have columns.

See eg https://baymard.com/blog/line-length-readability and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_length

[mmis1000]

Even without the line length problem, 8 character is unlikely to fit in a meaningful word. And because you need a space between each column, you actually only have 7. And nobody using random abbreviations now.

[throwaway290]

Writing programs by manipulating text is the actual limitation of the technology here, alignment is just a minor detail by comparison.

[throw827474737]

That's often heard, but what's the alternative? So far every other alternative has been more limiting, not?

[eru]

There are some sane alternatives.

You can keep to mostly text, but give the editor more leeway in how to lay it out and make the code's structure more visible.

Some really simple options, that you might not even recognise as going beyond text: folding of block and go-to-definition.

[throwaway290]

AST, GUI... The technology is not there yet.