[RFC] Characters per line: from punch card (80) to line printer (132) (was: [Patch][OpenMP/OpenACC/Fortran] Fix mapping of optional (present|absent) arguments)

[Joseph Myers]

On Thu, 5 Dec 2019, Thomas Schwinge wrote:

> In the relevant session at the GNU Tools Cauldron 2019, Michael Meissner
> stated that even he is not using a 80 x 24 terminal anymore, and that
> should tell us something.  ;-)
> 
> So, I formally propose that we lift this characters per line restriction
> from IBM punch card (80) to mainframe line printer (132).

I thought these line lengths were based on readability studies suggesting 
lengths that lines shorter than 80 columns were more readable?

Longer lines mean less space for multiple terminal / editor windows 
side-by-side to look at different pieces of code.  I don't think that's an 
improvement.

-- 
Joseph S. Myers
joseph@codesourcery.com