You Can Have My Double Space When You Pry it From My Cold, Dead Hands

[roo_ster]

http://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2011/01/you-can-have-my-double-space-when-you-pry-it-from-my-cold-dead-hands/69592/

Or, if you perform a

Code: [Select]

$ sed 's/  / /g' on my text, but not before!

[roo_ster]

Also, code ought to be indented with tabs, not spaces.

Preferably authored in emacs.

And variables ought to be lower_case_with_underscores becauseCamel isWrong.

I think that's all I need to say here.

[AZRedhawk44]

Yup.

Hi, my name is AZRedhawk44, and I'm a doublespacer.

[Marnoot]

I prefer CamelCase for variable names, more compact and neat to my eyes. Agreed on the tabs, though. As I primarily learned to type on a computer keyboard, I'm a single-spacer.

[AZRedhawk44]

I prefer CamelCase for variable names, more compact and neat to my eyes. Agreed on the tabs, though. As I primarily learned to type on a computer keyboard, I'm a single-spacer.

In VB, I use CamelCase.

In SQL, PHP and PERL, I use lower_case_with_underscores.

I guess I'm a big fat conformist.  <space><space>  But I'm still keeping my doublespaces.   I learned to type on a keyboard, but it was in WordPerfect for DOS... Version 5.1 I think.  Fixed width fonts, though output to printers allowed for different fonts, double-spacing, justification and such.  Teacher told us 2 spaces.  Add to that I do a LOT of work to this day in fixed width font environments (Visual Studio, SQL Management Studio, Notepad, gedit, vi) and I see no benefit to making a bunch of Ann Landers types happy by changing to what I consider an unjustified fad.  <space><space>

[Bogie]

Uh... Bogie here... Graphic Designer and Typographer
 
And I learned to type on a real typewriter.
 
The reason to not use two spaces after a period is that it makes things go weird when you justify text - when you have it line up even with both sides of the column. the double-spaces tend to cause "rivers" of white to run through the page. You may have noticed them at one time or another when looking at stuff, or maybe not. I know I'll notice them immediately.
 
Type how you want. But if it gets published, someone's gonna run a set of macros on it, turn all the double-spaces to singles, all the straight quotes to curly ones, double-dashes to em or en dashes, etc., etc...

[Hawkmoon]

I double space after sentences because I learned to type on a manual typewriter, and it's not worth the effort to retrain myself.

It's also not necessary. Word processing programs automatically remove the extra space, unless you go out of your way to modify that option.

The author of that piece is an idiot.

[Harold Tuttle]

em dash en dash hyphen underscore ligature YEEHAW!

a lot of the typing rules are there due to the manual typewriters physical issues.

Quark Xpress was making double spaces irrelevant back in 1990

[Bogie]

Heh... I was making double spaces irrelevant back around 1982...
 

[CNYCacher]

Also, code ought to be indented with tabs, not spaces.

Preferably authored in emacs.

And variables ought to be lower_case_with_underscores becauseCamel isWrong.

I think that's all I need to say here.

I agree on the tabs.  if you want them closer together, all worthy editors allow you to change the display width of a tab character.

I like UpperCamelCase for class names, and lowerCamelCase for variable names.

[Nick1911]

I generally try to follow established programming conventions associated with the particular language.

In sentences, I always double space.

And, vim for the win.

[MillCreek]

Wow, you guys have clearly forgotten more about this than I would ever hope to know.  Back when I took touch-typing back in eighth grade back in the 70's, on an IBM Selectric, I was taught to double space.  I still do this automatically.  

[roo_ster]

I prefer and end up doing most everything in fixed-width fonts.  Hence, double-spaces.

[41magsnub]

Wow, you guys have clearly forgotten more about this than I would ever hope to know.  Back when I took touch-typing back in eighth grade back in the 70's, on an IBM Selectric, I was taught to double space.  I still do this automatically.  

Same here but it was in the early 90's on an IBM Selectric in high school.  Bastards made me take typing on a typewriter before I could take any computer classes.  Even the typing class I took in 8th grade was on an old Apple but there was no challenge or getting around the typing class in high school.

[zahc]

I always use single spaces. I also recommend ditching the typewriter legacy completely and typing Dvorak.

[Hawkmoon]

Wow, you guys have clearly forgotten more about this than I would ever hope to know.  Back when I took touch-typing back in eighth grade back in the 70's, on an IBM Selectric, I was taught to double space.  I still do this automatically.  

As previously noted, typing was taught with double spaces after sentences back in the days when the only "fonts" available were Pica or Elite ... both fixed-width fonts. It was a convention used only in typing, never in typesetting. Once printers and word processors evolved to typeset-like "typesetting," double spaces because not only unnecessary, but simply incorrect. Yes, those who learned to type that way need to re-learn. I reprogrammed my fumble-prone fingers to only hit the space bar once after a period way back in the 1980s.

[KD5NRH]

The reason to not use two spaces after a period is that it makes things go weird when you justify text

No, incompetently written justification algorithms
c           a           u           s           e
theproblemswithjustification,aswellaseditorswh-
o  c a n ' t   b e   t r o u b l e d   t o   e d i t .

[CNYCacher]

No, incompetently written justification algorithms
c           a           u           s           e
theproblemswithjustification,aswellaseditorswh-
o  c a n ' t   b e   t r o u b l e d   t o   e d i t .

W                                      o                                              r                                                  d.