From:	kagel AT quasar DOT bloomberg DOT com
Date:	Mon, 7 Oct 1996 08:20:53 -0400
Message-Id:	<9610071220.AA07120@quasar.bloomberg.com >
To:	Paul AT chocolat DOT foobar DOT co DOT uk
Cc:	djgpp AT delorie DOT com
In-Reply-To:	<844476775.27675.0@chocolat.foobar.co.uk> (message from Paul Shirley on Fri, 4 Oct 1996 23:37:57 +0100)
Subject:	Re: Anyone know anything about RSXNTDJ?
Reply-To:	kagel AT dg1 DOT bloomberg DOT com

   From: Paul Shirley <Paul AT chocolat DOT foobar DOT co DOT uk>
   Date: Fri, 4 Oct 1996 23:37:57 +0100

[SNIP]
   Does anyone know if other Unix makes still need the hard tab? (I asked
   if anyone knew what 'important syntactical function' it fulfils >18
   months ago with no reply so far, leading me to think this is just
   another bit of FSF pig-headedness ;)

Yes all UNIX makes with which I am familiar require tabs before commands.  This
was part of the original 'language' definition.  Only DOS based MAKEs are
lenient in this as Microsoft and Borland had to modify their make utilities
just because at the time ALL the DOS editors translated tabs to spaces.

HISTORICAL NOTE FOR TRIVIA BUFFS (may be skipped or otherwise ignored):

The reason that most DOS editors translate tabs is historical, many early
printers emulated hard copy TTYs (like DECWRITER) and/or were intended as
printers attached to the printer port on the back of character terminals these
never saw tabs and so did not handle them.  (To this day the UNIX termcaps for
these printers and the TTYs they emulate translate tabs for them but DOS had no
such facility DOS PRINT send untranslated characters to the printer.)
Therefore DOS editors translated tabs so that printed documents looked like
their onscreen source.  Once the edlin standard was established it propagated.

-- 
Art S. Kagel, kagel AT quasar DOT bloomberg DOT com

A proverb is no proverb to you 'till life has illustrated it.  -- John Keats

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