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Is the 80 Columns Limit Dead?
Dancing Primate asks: "Reading through the code of co-workers and various open source projects, I'm finding that people are no longer formatting their code to 80 columns. With most people using X and the wide range of non-vi editors, is the 80 column limitation disappearing? Am I the only one who gets grumpy when I do a diff or print code, and it's hard to read?"
With most people using X
The proper technology name is ActiveX.
And what's the problem? I use the stock vi in Solaris all the time and never get that error. Long lines wrap just like they are supposed to...
...Hollerith cards
If we don't format our code to 80 columns, then how will we maintain back-compatibility with IBM punch cards?!
As a VB coder who frequently gets lost in his own code while he's writing it, I'd like to assert that my code conventions are for my own personal readablity of the code that I write. If I went much over 60 chars per line, I'd have to scroll all the time to see the stuff that just ran under the File Explorer or the Properties Explorer or the control pallette. My usual response to this is to totally forget what function I was working on, and why.
Oh, my God, I wish I was joking.
There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
80 columns are the devil! Why, my :-)
Osborne uses 52 columns and the ][e
uses 40 columns. Everybody should
reformat everything to 40 columns now,
lest they jeopardize cross-platform
compatability
AND EVERYBODY SHOULD USE ALL CAPS
BECAUSE NOT ALL MACHINES CAN DISPLAY
LOWERCASE CHARACTERS!
It's well known that the saying "80 column mind" means that you're narrow minded. Google it. :)