Sun's java code convention (published in year of 97) suggest 80 column per line for old-style terminals. It sounds pretty old, However, I saw some developers (not me :)) like to open multiple terminals in one screen for coding/debugging so 80-colum could be just fit. Google's java convention ( https://google-styleguide.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/javaguide.html#s4.4-column-limit) shows some flexibility here with 80 or 100 column (and some exception cases). Like Chris mentioned early, I think this 80-column should just be a general guideline but not a strict limit - we can break it if it hurts legibility of code reading. btw, some research work found that CPL (characters per line) only had small effects on readability for news, including factors of speed and comprehension ( http://psychology.wichita.edu/surl/usabilitynews/72/LineLength.asp). Not sure if reading code is the same (assume break lines properly).
2014-07-29 15:24 GMT+08:00 Andrew Purtell <apurt...@apache.org>: > On Mon, Jul 28, 2014 at 12:05 PM, Doug Cutting <cutt...@apache.org> wrote: > > > On Sun, Jul 27, 2014 at 9:28 PM, Ted Dunning <tdunn...@maprtech.com> > > wrote: > > > I don't know of any dev environments in common use today that can't > > display >100 characters. > > > > I edit in an 80-column Emacs window that just fits beside an 80-column > > shell window on a portrait-rotated 24" monitor. > > > > You win the Internet today, Old School category! (smile) > > > -- > Best regards, > > - Andy > > Problems worthy of attack prove their worth by hitting back. - Piet Hein > (via Tom White) >
