Lunduke
News • Science & Tech
New data shows: Tabs more popular than Spaces. But Spaces users are happier.
Plus: Do Generation, Ethnicity, or Politics impact the choice of Spaces / Tabs?
March 11, 2024
post photo preview

"Tabs vs Spaces" is a debate as old as... well... Tabs and Spaces.  Lots of opinions.  Lots of arguments.

But which method of indentation do most computer nerds (and others within the IT industry) actually prefer?

And, while we're on the subject, are there any correlations between Tabs/Spaces usage... and a persons preferred Operating System, Web Browser, or Text Editor?  How about age, politics, and ethnicity?  Do those influence the Tabs or Spaces preference?  Are people who use Tabs happier than people who use Spaces?

I know some of that may sound crazy... but... do you know the answer?  Now that you've thought about it... don't you want to know?

The Lunduke Journal set out to answer these questions (and so many others) by surveying 7,200 IT professionals and computer nerds. (More information on the survey at the end of this article.)

And now, we can difinitively say, we have those answers.

Yes.  People prefer Tabs.

This is about as conclusive as it gets.  63.9% prefer Tabs over Spaces.

That's a decisive victory for Tabs.

Sure.  Most people perfer Tabs... but that still leaves a heck of a lot of questions unanswered.

Tabs / Spaces vs Text Editors

Do people who prefer Tabs... prefer Emacs or Vi?  Do "Spaces People" prefer editors like Notepad and Nano?

We presented those surveyed with four options: Emacs, Vi, Nano, & Notepad.  They had to chose one.  Here's how it broke down (according to those who preferred either Tabs or Spaces).

Spaces and Vi go hand in hand, apparently.

First of all: Vi / Vim were clearly the most popular.  But especially among those who prefer Spaces.

And people who like Tabs?  They tend to stay clear of Emacs... and gravitate towards Nano and Notepad.

Seriously.  The numbers don't lie.

Tabs / Spaces vs Operating Systems

But, wait.  Tabs and Notepad go hand-in-hand?  Say what?

Let's dive deeper... and take a look at how the Tabs / Spaces division plays out for each of the three major Operating Systems.  

This is ranked based on people who stated they use one of these Operating Systems more than any other.

Windows users are, overwhelmingly, the biggest fans of Tabs.  71.2%.

macOS users, on the other hand, still prefer Tabs... but to a far less extreme degree (57.4% vs 42.6%).

Linux users fell somewhere in the middle.

Just the same... users of every major Operating System prefer Tabs.  Decisively.

Tabs / Spaces vs Web Browsers

While we're looking at correlations between software usage and Tabs / Spaces... let's look at Web Browsers.

Pie charts are neat.

A few little take-aways.

  • Tabs aficionados like Google Chrome a bit more (15.5% vs 10.2%).
  • Ironically, Spaces users like Microsoft Edge a tad more.  Which is funny, considering how much Windows users tend to prefer Tabs.

Ok.  Let's move into the non-software correlations.

Tabs / Spaces vs Age

Which generation (X, Millenial, etc.) prefers Spaces vs Tabs?  Turns out, there's a distinct difference between the age groups.

Gen X likes them some Spaces!

Gen Z (1997 - 2012), is all Tabs.  72.2%.

But Gen X (1965 - 1980)?  They're far more split.  57.5% for Tabs, 42.5% for Spaces.

If there's one Generation keeping "Spaces" alive... it's Gen X.  Gen X might as well be renamed to "Gen Spaces".

Tabs / Spaces vs Politics

Now, how about political leanings?  I mean, seriously... it would be kinda interesting to know if politics had any correlation with a persons preference for using Spaces or Tabs.

Does it matter?  No.  But now that I've mentioned it... you kinda want to know too, don't ya?

Huh!

Well, look at that.

Turns out... those who identified politically as Centrists were the most likely to like Tabs!  By a surprisingly large margin.  Both Left and Right-leaning folks were actually not that far apart on the Tabs v Spaces issue... so... they've got that in common!

Tabs / Spaces vs Ethnicity

Ok.  Now let's look at a correlation between Tabs / Spaces... and ethnicity.

I know.  I know.  Just asking to get yelled at.  But, hey, there's no harm in looking at numbers, right?

What the what.

Your eyes do not deceive you.

People who identified as "White" were 62.3% in favor of Tabs.  But people who identified as anything other than "White" ("Black or African", "Asian", and other options pulled directly from the US census) declared an 81.6% preference for Tabs.

Why?  No clue.  But the numbers are right there.

Tabs / Spaces vs Programming Language

Ok, now let's tackle the topic that many of us -- myself included -- would probably assume has the biggest influence on wether or not a person prefers Tabs or Spaces: Programming languages.

We asked people which programming languages they were sufficiently familiar with to be able to code a simple application without much assistance.  Let's see how familiarity with any given programming language correlates to a choice of Tabs or Spaces.

Go programmers sure like their Spaces!

Some eyebrow raising results:

  • Those familiar with the most popular languages all tended towards Tabs more than Spaces (this includes those familiar with Python).
  • Go, Perl, BASH, & Rust were the four languages with the strongest tendency to vote for Spaces. 
  • With BASIC, C++, PHP, & Assembly tending most heavily towards Tabs.

But who are the happiest?

All of that is interesting.  Weird, funky little tidbits of information.

But what about a truly important question...

Which group, on average, is happier?  Those that use Tabs... or Spaces?

We asked people to rank their happines.  On scale of 1 to 10.  This was the result.

Not a huge difference.  But... still.
  • Spaces: 7.29 / 10
  • Tabs: 6.93 / 10

A difference of 0.36.  Or, to put another way, Spaces users are (on average) 5.2% happier than Tabs users.

Sure.  5.2% may not seem like a lot.  And there may be a lot of other possible causations -- with possible connections or relations to the Spaces / Tabs question -- which may be more likely to influence that percentage change in reported happines.

Just the same.  Fascinating to think that most people (63.9%) choose Tabs.

Yet... Spaces users are happier.  At least a little.


This report is derived from data obtained between February 22nd and March 10th of 2024, as part of the Great Tech Industry Demographics Survey.  During this survey, 7,200 respondents (a sample size many times larger than used by most polling agencies in national elections) answered 46 questions on a wide variety of technical, political, personal, and IT work-place related topics.

The survey was distributed by a wide range of writers, podcasters, YouTubers, & tech enthusiasts -- representing a variety of computing preferences (Windows vs Mac vs Linux, etc.) and political leanings.

The full, anonymous data will be released -- to allow for additional public analysis -- following a round of initial reporting by The Lunduke Journal.


If you are not already a subscriber to The Lunduke Journal, now's a great time.  At the very least, get yourself a free subscription so you don't miss out (most articles and shows here at The Lunduke Journal are free for all to enjoy).

Find more information (including RSS Podcast feeds, links to some of the big shows, how to become a whistleblower, and more) at the Lunduke Journal Link Central page.

community logo
Join the Lunduke Community
To read more articles like this, sign up and join my community today
27
What else you may like…
Videos
Podcasts
Posts
Articles
October 07, 2025
Linus Says Rust Formatting is "Bass-Ackwards Garbage"

"[Rustfmtcheck] is just ANNOYING. It's automated tooling that is literally making bad decisions for the maintainability," says Linux creator, Linus Torvalds.

More from The Lunduke Journal:
https://lunduke.com/

00:08:17
October 06, 2025
Get a Subscription, Give a Subscription

The "Buy One, Give One" Lunduke Journal offer is good through Friday, October 10th.

The Details:
https://lunduke.substack.com/p/get-a-subscription-give-a-subscription

More from The Lunduke Journal:
https://lunduke.com/

00:04:30
October 06, 2025
NixOS Mod Admits Reason for Coup is "Trump"

Also, NixOS delays release "Due to Recent Events". Aka... the attempted coup.

More from The Lunduke Journal:
https://lunduke.com/

00:08:05
November 22, 2023
The futility of Ad-Blockers

Ads are filling the entirety of the Web -- websites, podcasts, YouTube videos, etc. -- at an increasing rate. Prices for those ad placements are plummeting. Consumers are desperate to use ad-blockers to make the web palatable. Google (and others) are desperate to break and block ad-blockers. All of which results in... more ads and lower pay for creators.

It's a fascinatingly annoying cycle. And there's only one viable way out of it.

Looking for the Podcast RSS feed or other links? Check here:
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/4619051/lunduke-journal-link-central-tm

Give the gift of The Lunduke Journal:
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/4898317/give-the-gift-of-the-lunduke-journal

The futility of Ad-Blockers
November 21, 2023
openSUSE says "No Lunduke allowed!"

Those in power with openSUSE make it clear they will not allow me anywhere near anything related to the openSUSE project. Ever. For any reason.

Well, that settles that, then! Guess I won't be contributing to openSUSE! 🤣

Looking for the Podcast RSS feed or other links?
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/4619051/lunduke-journal-link-central-tm

Give the gift of The Lunduke Journal:
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/4898317/give-the-gift-of-the-lunduke-journal

openSUSE says "No Lunduke allowed!"
September 13, 2023
"Andreas Kling creator of Serenity OS & Ladybird Web Browser" - Lunduke’s Big Tech Show - September 13th, 2023 - Ep 044

This episode is free for all to enjoy and share.

Be sure to subscribe here at Lunduke.Locals.com to get all shows & articles (including interviews with other amazing nerds).

"Andreas Kling creator of Serenity OS & Ladybird Web Browser" - Lunduke’s Big Tech Show - September 13th, 2023 - Ep 044
3 hours ago

Mansfield, Georgia. They come claiming to "help" bring funds to poor areas...

'I can't drink the water' - life next to a US data centre
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8gy7lv448o

14 hours ago

Are you old school???

October 06, 2025

Computers are boring...
Here me out here. Pictures below is a motherboard from late 2008. Is an Asus P6T X58 motherboard. You have tons of options and caveats. Want the fastest RAM? You're restricted to 6GB DDR3. Want to max out the RAM? 24GB but you're restricted to 1333 speeds.
You can use SATA, IDE, even floppy. PCI and PCI Express. All options. All things you have to take into consideration.
There are so many parts to consider.
For a nerd, this is like assembling a puzzle. You have to consider how it's all going to work together.
Now?
Well, now you get like 2 PCIe slots and 2 RAM slots, and anything that does anything special is just going to use USB. It all just works. There are only a very few things you have to consider.
That's boring.
It's like taking a puzzle and all sides are the same and each piece is numbered.
Grant it, 99% of the population just wants to put a picture on the wall. But if you like doing puzzles, you want a challenge. And nobody offers a new challenge.
This is why I ...

post photo preview
New: MP4 Downloads for all Lunduke Journal Subscribers

All Lunduke Journal subscribers now have full access to DRM-Free, MP4 versions of every single video released during 2024 and 2025.

No matter where you subscribe to The Lunduke Journal (Substack, Locals, YouTube, X, or Patreon), and no matter what kind of subscription you have (Monthly, Yearly, or Lifetime), you can go to the Subscriber Perks page to get access to some pretty rad goodies:

  • DRM-Free, MP4 versions of all shows

  • A dozen PDF eBooks (plus some goofy games)

  • Full access to the exclusive Lunduke Journal forum

All my way of saying “Thank You” for supporting the important work of The Lunduke Journal. Couldn’t do it without you.

Also worth noting:

Any Lifetime Subscription (or Yearly Subscription picked up through Substack) is “Buy One, Give One” through Friday. Meaning you get a subscription for yourself… and can give a free subscription to whoever you like!

Which. You know. Is pretty awesome.

-Lunduke

Read full Article
September 18, 2025
Final Reminder: Lifetime Price Increase in 24 hours

This is just a super quick reminder (so no body misses out):

This Friday (September 19th), the price of a new Lifetime Subscription to The Lunduke Journal will be increasing from $200 to $300.

Which means: If you want to pick up a new Lifetime Subscription for the lower price, simply grab one (via Locals, Substack, or Bitcoin) by Thursday night (Sep 18th). That’s roughly 24 hours from the moment I am writing these words.

Obviously, once you have a Lifetime Subscription you’re set. You know. For life.

I wanted to give all of you some notice so you could grab one at the lower rate.

Also worth noting: The Lunduke Journal has phased out sales and discount promotions. The current price of a subscription is the best price.

This will be the final reminder before the change goes into effect.

-Lunduke

Read full Article
September 15, 2025
post photo preview
Lunduke Livestream: Tue, Sep 16 at 1pm Eastern

The Lunduke Journal regular live-streaming is back! The next show is Tuesday, September 16th (tomorrow) at 1pm Eastern (10am Pacific, 5pm UTC).

You can catch the live video, for free, on X, Rumble, YouTube, & Locals.

We’ve got a lot of Tech News to cover — and who knows what stories will pop up between now and then!

Time permitting, we’ll also be doing a little Nerdy Q & A. So, if you’ve got something you’d like to ask, join us in one of the chat rooms!

Also, quick reminder that the price of new Lifetime Subscription is going up this Friday. If you want one at the lower price, now’s your moment. We’ve also added some new perks for subscribers worth checking out.

See you nerd tomorrow!

-Lunduke

Read full Article
See More
Available on mobile and TV devices
google store google store app store app store
google store google store app tv store app tv store amazon store amazon store roku store roku store
Powered by Locals