Use softtabstop instead of tabstop.

[ryanpcmcquen]

Closes #223.

[begriffs]

Looking at these docs it seems like tabstop and softtabstop are complementary to one another, not mutually exclusive. http://tedlogan.com/techblog3.html

Can you explain the specific formatting problem you're having that motivates this pull request?

[ryanpcmcquen]

Is the intention to always insert 2 spaces? If so, softtabstop should be used. If we want to be dynamic based on the file, then tabstop is better. I ended up putting a lot of tabs in files where I meant to insert spaces because I had tabstop and softtabstop set.

Even that link shows not using tabstop if you intend to use spaces.

[begriffs]

Sorry I've been procrastinating making a decision about this. Let's think through all the tab settings.

Set tabstop to tell vim how many columns a tab counts for. ... This is the only command here that will affect how existing text displays.

This setting affects the display of actual tab characters in a file, so is not even relevant for files with all spaces. However we could set it to 2 just in case we're reading a file that another editor saved which has tabs.

When expandtab is set, hitting Tab in insert mode will produce the appropriate number of spaces.

I used to use real tabs for my code, and then started doing Ruby programming where everybody uses only spaces, at which point I switched my style to spaces. I think tabs do make logical sense, but spaces are more common in Haskell so let's enable expandtab.

Set shiftwidth to control how many columns text is indented with the reindent operations (<< and >>)

Choose 2 to match the tabstop.

Set softtabstop to control how many columns vim uses when you hit Tab in insert mode.

Using the value 2 is consistent with what we want.

Smarttabs ... ensures that tabs are only used for indentation, while spaces are used everywhere else. When you press Tab in insert mode, a tab is inserted when indenting, and/or the correct number of spaces when aligning text .

Since we're always expanding tabs, this setting can be turned off.

Do you want to make these changes in your PR?

[begriffs]

Thank you! Appreciate your nudging me to learn more about how tabs work in vim so we can make this configuration work smoothly for everyone.

[ryanpcmcquen]

You are welcome! This really is confusing in Vim, haha.

[ryanpcmcquen]

@begriffs how do you feel about changing Ctrl + T to insert a tab in insert mode?

"" Allow the user to insert an actual tab with:
""   Ctrl + T
inoremap <C-T> <C-V><Tab>

Its current behavior is the same as the Tab key.

[begriffs]

This might conflict with the standard keys. In :help ins-special-keys it says,

CTRL-T		Insert one shiftwidth of indent at the start of the current
		line.  The indent is always rounded to a 'shiftwidth' (this is
		vi compatible).  {Vi: only when in indent}

Maybe this is something you could add to your ~/.config/haskell-vim-now/vimrc.local?