Spaces or tabs? It may be an obscure argument among programmers about how to format code – but it's also an age-old battle that still burns hot in development circles ("Tabs versus Spaces: An Eternal Holy War" was published in 2000).

Last week's episode of "Silicon Valley" skewered this fight when Richard actually breaks up with the otherwise-promising Winnie solely because she uses spaces to code (scene here).

Tech Insider sums up the argument:

"Richard's favorite, tabs, involves fewer key presses (and thus, in most cases, fewer characters for the computer program to remember), but is a bit imprecise. Winnie's favorite, spaces, offers coders a more specific and literal way to create their indentations. However, it's slower to use and uses up more storage space."

And the intensity of this conflict is for real: in a piece titled "Death to the Space Infidels!" programmer Jeff Atwood says the formatting wars "destroy peer relationships" and can even cause "teamicide" (!!!).

Who knew programmers lived on such a life-and-death edge?!

Spaces...or tabs? Choose wisely…

What do you think: #DeathToSpaces or #DeathToTabs?

Spaces or tabs? There can be only one.... | The Tylt