[alanctgardner2]

Maybe I`m biased because I write C on a daily basis, and only noodle around with Python occasionally:

- Having a standard line length is awesome. I can fit 3 80x4 terminals on my 1920x1080 screen, and I never have worry about anything overflowing or wrapping. You could pick a different length, if you`d like, but 80 is convenient.

- I`ve seen the `you can set tabs to whatever you want` argument before. It`s obviously at odds with the 80-column rule, because if you open it with the wrong config, wrapping everywhere. This happens disproportionately to new users - new hires and interns - and it`s a big pain to explain every time. Then they turn around and hit space 4 times anyways.

Your code style rules should definitely match your language. The author seems to be complaining that C-style rules don`t apply to Python. You`d think he would`ve realized when they started talking about wrapping if blocks in {}

[beatgammit]

Not trying to start a flame war, but I am on the tabs side of the discussion. Most companies have rules about tabs/spaces (we use spaces, much to my chagrin), and it's pretty easy to set a rule.

I code in Go a lot now, and Go ships with gofmt, which formats your code for you (uses tabs by default). There are similar tools for every language I've used. This can be set in a pre-commit hook (or whatever the terminology is for non-git scms), so it's not really an issue. We do this, and it works like a champ.

[amcgregor]

Automation is a very nice thing. We, too, use Git hooks to run a wide array of checks and cleanup routines. The base that we use is from my hooks collection: https://github.com/amcgregor/snippits/blob/hooks/pre-commit-...

[amcgregor]

If your developers are pressing space four times instead of the tab (key), and the editors aren't capable of reasonable wrapping policies, you should probably replace either the editors they are using… or them. The key point of my article is that we have software to do all of this stuff for us. Hitting three more keys than necessary to indent is the fast road to carpel-tunnel and surely not the best use of developer time.

[amcgregor]

Oh, forgot to mention: you can embed in source files editor instructions (between -*- for emacs, something I can't remember for vim) that specify a default presentation format.