On Mon, 29 Jul 2013 22:09:10 +0100, Steven D'Aprano
<steve+comp.lang.pyt...@pearwood.info> wrote:
On Mon, 29 Jul 2013 15:43:49 -0400, Devyn Collier Johnson wrote:
In Python programming, the PEP8 recommends limiting lines to a maximum
of 79 characters because "There are still many devices around that are
limited to 80 character lines"
(http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0008/#code-lay-out). What devices
cannot handle 80 or more characters on a line?
The only one I can think of is actual xterms (Ctrl-Alt-Function key
terminals on Unix and Linux). But I think that's actually a red-herring.
At least for me, I don't care about devices with 80 character lines.
(Smart phones? Or is that more likely to be 40 character lines?)
I care about being able to put multiple windows side-by-side, or a single
window with code in one pane and a class map at the side. I care about
being able to copy and paste code into an email, or Usenet post, without
it being mangled. I care about *never* having to scroll left-to-right in
order to read a line.
And most of all, I care about lines being short enough to read without
eye strain and mental fatigue from excessive horizontal width.
+1
I'm working on some shonky C code at the moment that inconsistent
indentation and very long lines. It is extremely annoying not to be able
to put the original code, my "translation" and sundry utilities all
side-by-side on the same screen (and it's not a particularly small
screen), and having to keep flipping between them slows me down
dramatically. Long lines have no effect on the speed of the program, but
they can have serious effects on the speed of the programmer.
--
Rhodri James *-* Wildebeest Herder to the Masses
--
http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
