Tabs and spaces — Makefile in C
Apr 04, 2025 am 09:54 AM
The debate among developers over tabs and spaces revolves around the preferred method of indentation in code. Advocates of “tabs” believe that tabs are semantically correct, customizable and more accessible for indentation, especially for those with visual impairment. They recommend using tabs for indentation and using spaces for alignment. Advocates of "spaces" emphasize consistency, because spaces ensure that the code formats are displayed the same on different editors and platforms, thus avoiding the issue of variable tab sizes. This approach is often preferred in team environments to maintain a unified code appearance.
But if you program in C and need to use Makefile, then there is no choice - you have to use 'Tabs'.
The requirements for tabs in Makefile originated from Stuart Feldman, Unix developers and the creator of the "make" utility. Feldman selects tab characters to help distinguish commands from other text in Makefiles. Specifically, the Lex parser used in the early implementation of "make" has difficulty distinguishing between tabs and spaces, resulting in tab mandatory requirements. Although Feldman admitted that this was a suboptimal decision, the agreement still existed.
The screenshot above shows a Makefile. This example uses the Show Symbols feature in notepad - using it you can clearly distinguish tabs from spaces - the arrows indicate that tabs are used on lines 8, 12 and 16. If you use spaces instead of indenting these line tabs, the program will not run - you will receive an error:
Makefile:line_number: *** Missing delimiter. Stop.
So whether you prefer tabs or spaces when programming depends on you. But if you use Makefile in C, Stuart gives you no choice.
If you haven't seen the Silicon Valley episode above (S3 Ep6) - watch it, just like the entire series, it's very interesting.
Ben Santola—October
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