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Discussion on: Who Killed The Tab?

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lionelrowe profile image
lionel-rowe • Edited

Spaces are VHS, and tabs are Betamax. Except in this analogy, Betamax is not only substantively better but also cheaper.

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bytebodger profile image
Adam Nathaniel Davis

That's actually a great analogy. I'm always fascinated by the VHS/Betamax case study - partially because we actually HAD a Betamax machine in my house when I was a kid. But moreso because it's somewhat baffling to me whenever the "lesser" solution wins.

I guess that part of my frustration around tabs-vs-spaces is that spaces hasn't necessarily "won" so much as it's bullied its way into a certain space (primarily, JS development).

If spaces had replaced tabs in most of all programming, it'd actually be easier for me to just "deal with it". But it's frustrating to know that, if I'm going back to Java work, no one has any problem with tabs. But when I flip over to JS, I'll literally be code shamed if I try to check in something that uses tabs.