On Thu, Jun 11, 2020 at 12:36 PM Joe Perches <j...@perches.com> wrote: > > Exactly. So don't set a new hard limit of 100. > > This would _always_ wrap lines to 100 columns when > 80 columns is still preferred.
Why is 80 "still preferred" to begin with? The patch you sent for `coding-style.rst` was picked up by Linus, yes, but the wording seems too strong still, considering it is for newcomers. The point is that 80 *isn't* a limit, so I don't see why it is mentioned, much less "preferred". Rather, I would have worded it like [*]. What do you think? > Imagine using a 100 column limit where a statement still > fits on 2 lines. Now imagine the same statement wrapped > at 80 columns still fitting on 2 lines. > > Which would you prefer and why? The former. While sometimes it may be more aesthetically pleasing to have 2 lines of similar lengths rather than a long one and a short one, having a deterministic approach allows us to use automatic formatters. Which in turn makes code more regular since breaks are always done the same way (modulo heuristic differences between clang-format versions etc.). In other words, I prefer automatic breaks vs. discussing every break :-) Cheers, Miguel [*] (please excuse any word-wrap) >From 3b3cad415b56498534fadf732f2762f4dbe108eb Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Miguel Ojeda <miguel.ojeda.sando...@gmail.com> Date: Thu, 11 Jun 2020 13:16:46 +0200 Subject: [PATCH] coding-style: don't mention line length hard limits, add tips Signed-off-by: Miguel Ojeda <miguel.ojeda.sando...@gmail.com> --- Documentation/process/coding-style.rst | 10 ++++++---- 1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-) diff --git a/Documentation/process/coding-style.rst b/Documentation/process/coding-style.rst index 17a8e584f15f..309d3ae17e6c 100644 --- a/Documentation/process/coding-style.rst +++ b/Documentation/process/coding-style.rst @@ -84,11 +84,13 @@ Get a decent editor and don't leave whitespace at the end of lines. Coding style is all about readability and maintainability using commonly available tools. -The preferred limit on the length of a single line is 80 columns. +Avoid lines that are too long and use reasonable line lengths. There is no +hard limit: break lines where it makes the most sense, somewhere around +the 80-120 columns. Complex statements should be broken into sensible chunks; +identifiers should not be unreasonably verbose. Follow nearby conventions. -Statements longer than 80 columns should be broken into sensible chunks, -unless exceeding 80 columns significantly increases readability and does -not hide information. +A good test is using `clang-format`: if the formatter is unable to split +the lines wisely, then the code likely needs rearrangement. Descendants are always substantially shorter than the parent and are are placed substantially to the right. A very commonly used style -- 2.27.0
