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

[Segher Boessenkool]

On Thu, Dec 05, 2019 at 04:44:21PM +0000, Michael Matz wrote:
> (oh a flame bait :) )

I will blissfully ignore that warning.

> On Thu, 5 Dec 2019, Thomas Schwinge wrote:
> I object to cluttering code in excuse for using sensible function names or 
> temporaries that otherwise can help clearing up code.  Using 132-char 
> lines is cluttering code:
> - long lines are harder to read/grasp: vertical eye movement is easier 
>   than horizontal, and source code should be optimized for 
>   reading, not writing
> - long lines make it impossible to have two files next to each other at a 
>   comfortable font size
> - long lines are incompatible with existing netiquette re emails, for 
>   instance
> 
> So, at least for me, that my terminals are 80 wide (but not x24) has 
> multiple reasons, and the _least_ of it is because that's what punch cards 
> had.

I agree with all of this.

If you have a hard time writing nicely readable code in 80 columns, you
will have a much harder time still using more columns.  80 is somewhat
too long already (~60 is better), but we have indents in source code,
so that's alright.  And you should not indent that far, so this all
works out splendidly.


Segher