Jeremiah Dodds <jeremiah.dodds@gmail.com> writes:
hmm, the 80-character convention does not stop me from unconsciously writing really complex list comprehensions, I just write them like so:
def foo(f, a, b, c): return [[((f(x,y) * i, i) if i % 2 else 0) for i, x in enumerate(a) if f(y, x) == a + x] for y in [c(z) for z in range(a, a*b+c, c)]]
not that that's really any better.
On the contrary, I find that *much* easier to grasp than the same statement on a single line. You have been required, by choosing to follow the 80-column limit, to choose points at which to break the line; and have responded by breaking it up into conceptually discrete chunks and indented to suggest the structure. This example is, for me, a very convincing (anecdotal) demonstration of why an 80-column limit is a good constraint to follow.
But yeah, this is all anectodal evidence and personal taste, as Raymond points out.
Yet it's also more than that; to call it “personal taste” is to imply that it's nothing more than aesthetics. If that's all it were, I'd care far less for changes in convention. I consider it rather more importantly a matter of software ergonomics, which should therefore not be changed unless there's good supporting evidence that the proposed change results in improvement. -- \ “A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything and the | `\ value of nothing.” —Oscar Wilde | _o__) | Ben Finney