Right now, I see no _real_ use on a <pre > tag. What if it was perfectly similar to a code tag beside one difference: it's an inline element. It would make code post formatting slightly easier, yet use little CSS.
For example, the current CSS for a code tag is:

code {
padding: 4px;
display: block;
border: 1px solid #CCCCCC;
background-color: rgba(230, 230, 230, 0.5);
overflow: auto;
white-space: pre;
}
To accommodate for the new change, a really slight modification to the CSS is necessary:

code {
display: block;
padding: 4px;
}
pre {
display: inline;
padding: 2px 1px; /* Different from code to fit better into a line of text */
}
code, pre {
border: 1px solid #CCC;
background-color: rgba(230, 230, 230, 0.5);
overflow: auto;
white-space: pre;
}

I have experimented in my custom style for this site and it looks great.

For example, if you want to differentiate a function call from the rest of the text yet you don't want it to be placed into a block element, just use a pre tag to make it inline and efficient.
It's just a style issue. YEAAAAHHHHHH
>edit:
This is a

function() { test(); }

test.

function test() {
//code goes here
}

@Fast-Driver (View Post)
Oh, my style is hardly complete.. If it would *really* happen, then I'd finish it post-haste, of course :D

@nmd (View Post)
Thanks! :3

@DJspiderize (View Post)
Basically, when you usually write code with the <code> tag, then it separates the entire code with blank lines. What if the <pre> tag could be used to write code inside the text, without separating with blank lines? For example, <p> works as a "block element" because it makes itself into a "block", but an "inline" element such as <span> doesn't really wrap itself like that.

Any moderator / developer feedback please? Someone that could make this happen or decline it?