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Have a standard filename that all editors would read

 Especially tabs vs 4 spaces and newline type
  (-2)
(-2) 		  [vote for,
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Have a standard filename that all editors would read.

At the very minimum, it checks on if all the files should be in windows/linux newline type. And also it checks if tabs means 4 spaces or the tab character.

Each file is scoped to its folder and any folders under it.

—mofosyne, Jul 07 2016

editor config http://editorconfig.org/
[mofosyne, Jul 07 2016]

File Signatures http://www.garykess...rary/file_sigs.html
Not exactly what the idea suggests, but an alternative method in general use for all manner of non-text files. It'd be relatively trivial to adopt a header-encoding block in which this kind of meta information could be logged. Windows notepad suffered from a bug where some header-block encoding hack was exposed when saving text files with a particular character combination at the top. [zen_tom, Jul 08 2016]

Notepad and encoding blocks https://blogs.msdn....0070417-00/?p=27223
[zen_tom, Jul 08 2016]

some haiku http://jti.lib.virg...n/BeiShik.utf8.html
[Voice, Jul 09 2016]


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Annotation:







       //Have a standard filename that all editors would read.//   

       Also, how about a snappier idea name, with the parenthetical comment in the subtitle?
—MaxwellBuchanan, Jul 07 2016
   

       Hey, I happen to like my indents, when writing a computer program, to be 2 spaces, not 4.
—Vernon, Jul 07 2016
   

       MaxwellBuchanan, Jul 07 2016   

       Good idea, edited. Also I wonder if editor config has baked this
—mofosyne, Jul 07 2016
   

       // 2 spaces, not 4 //   

       As do I*. The solution is to never, ever use tabs and use an editor that's line-ending agnostic.   

       ( * Except when writing assembly, where massive indents with one instruction per line is traditional.)
—mitxela, Jul 07 2016
   

       A standard <<filename>>?   

       You mean like "buglist_4spctabs_nix.txt"?   

       Or do you mean a standard header block in the hex of the file that describes the character encoding, possible source and other gubbins to do with the file? That exists for non text files, and I think there is a minimal blob of content right at the head of any text file that helps identify it as such.   

       Lots of existing editors (notepad++, textwrangler, atom, Textpad etc) use filename extension recognition to decide on format colouring, layout, rendering and so on - so in a sense, this is already a thing.   

       And where it's not a thing, plugins and utilities exist to flatten, standardise, cleanse, flush and otherwise prettify your content - it's a bit of a wild-west though, so yeah could come in handy.   

       I'd prefer it though to limit the information contained in a filename to describing the content of a file, rather than including formatting details. It's hard enough searching (on filename) for something you want to find without worrying about anything else.
—zen_tom, Jul 08 2016
   

       This idea is illegible, and not because of any syntactic difficulty but out of laziness. [-]
—Voice, Jul 08 2016
   

       This idea is written like a haiku.
—the porpoise, Jul 09 2016
   

       There should be seperate rules for English language haikus. In Japanese the number of syllables is an important.   

       The tree cut
down breaks early
at my little window
   

       is a beautiful example of a haiku embracing this limitation. In English it only takes 3,3,6 syllables   

       Looking down I see
cool in the moonlight
4000 houses
   

       5,5,5   

       (linky)   

       For an English poem to be so restricted I think it should have a format of 4,5,4 syllables. This strips the language to its essentials.   

       an angry sun
without a warning
breaks through curtains
   

       Only by changing the format can this poem be forced into baring the essentials. It seems not at first but the longer version has superfluous words.   

       Due to its anger
The sun snaps through my window,
a programmer's bane.
   

       That last line must not be spoken, or the spirit of haiku is missed. I think the recipe for a haiku requires a large portion of Zen-like asceticism. A less restrictive recipe makes a completely different kind of dessert.   

       Those who demand 5,7,5 haikus in English are supporting the rule at total expense of its spirit.
—Voice, Jul 09 2016
   

       Haiku
is over
rated.
—pocmloc, Jul 09 2016
   

       I just reread the last line of the idea after reading the annotations, and realized what it is.   

       It's not "text editor looks at the name of the file you open for clues as to how to interpret and format it."   

       It's "you can put a file with a specific name (such as FORMAT.txt) in any folder, and the text editor reads the formatting rules you've defined in that file when you open any other file in the same folder or a subfolder that doesn't have its own formatting rules file."   

       I guess it would be kinda like .gitignore and similar rule files. You know, it's probably already implemented.   

       Edit: *checks first link* There you go.
—notexactly, Jul 19 2016
   


 

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