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Re: 80 char line limit, and we should stop the convention


From: Dan Espen
Subject: Re: 80 char line limit, and we should stop the convention
Date: Wed, 28 Mar 2012 19:33:48 -0000
User-agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/23.3 (gnu/linux)

Xah Lee <xahlee@gmail.com> writes:

> the 80-char limit in unixes, and the convention to truncate/format
> file no more than 80 chars per line in unix email or source code (such
> as emacs's fill-paragraph), are from punch cards.

80 isn't right for email.

I believe  the recommended width is 70 or 72 to account for the future
insertions of "> " as email is replied to.

Interestingly, I find recommended limits online for that new scourge of
the internet, html email.  I found 2 web sites that recommend 600px.
I wonder what that averages out to in characters...

Of course the limit started with cards, but by the time Unix made it's
appearance, the limit was more prevalent in displays.

As it happens, there has to be some limit, no one wants to try to read
1000 character wide source code.  80 turns out to be a practical
and easy to adhere to limit.

I tend to keep my emacs window wide enough to cover about 80% of
the screen and use a font size I can see.  That's 140 characters
but I rarely code that wide.

Removed comp.lang.lisp.

-- 
Dan Espen


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