Jeremiah Dodds wrote:
On Thu, May 21, 2009 at 9:04 AM, Lie Ryan <lie.1296@gmail.com <mailto:lie.1296@gmail.com>> wrote:
Raymond Hettinger wrote:
Some people find their productivity is enhanced with an 80 character limit.
Perhaps this is true, though I've not heard one jot of evidence to support it and certainly no evidence focusing on Python coding practices which are affected by the use of whitespace for control flow. Nor have I seen evidence of comparative productivity of 80 char limits versus 100 char limits. All we have is anecdotal evidence and personal tastes.
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But yeah, this is all anectodal evidence and personal taste, as Raymond points out. The 80 char limit _had_ a practical reason for existing, and I don't doubt that there are people out there that are still using the (hard|soft)ware that caused the limit to be practical, but they're probably few and far between. I also haven't seen anything other than anectodal evidence and personal taste in favor of increasing the limit, which suggests to me that it should just stay how it is. It is just a convention after all.
With the popularity of smaller netbooks, laptops, and other hand held computing devices going up, I think the 80 char limit guideline may still serve a good and practical purpose. So I'm for keeping it as it is on the principle that it is only a guideline and anyone can disregard it if it is advantageous for them to do so. Ron