From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: main.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: "Stefan Monnier" Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: Source code formatting: line length limit? Date: Sat, 25 Jan 2003 20:21:33 -0500 Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+emacs-devel=quimby.gnus.org@gnu.org Message-ID: <200301260121.h0Q1LXx18015@rum.cs.yale.edu> References: <84ptqlflp7.fsf@lucy.is.informatik.uni-duisburg.de> NNTP-Posting-Host: main.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: main.gmane.org 1043544071 9780 80.91.224.249 (26 Jan 2003 01:21:11 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@main.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 26 Jan 2003 01:21:11 +0000 (UTC) Cc: Kai =?iso-8859-1?q?Gro=DFjohann?= Return-path: Original-Received: from quimby.gnus.org ([80.91.224.244]) by main.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 18cbTy-0002Xc-00 for ; Sun, 26 Jan 2003 02:21:10 +0100 Original-Received: from monty-python.gnu.org ([199.232.76.173]) by quimby.gnus.org with esmtp (Exim 3.12 #1 (Debian)) id 18cbXS-0007qi-00 for ; Sun, 26 Jan 2003 02:24:46 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.10.13) id 18cbVC-0000eL-06 for emacs-devel@quimby.gnus.org; Sat, 25 Jan 2003 20:22:26 -0500 Original-Received: from list by monty-python.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.10.13) id 18cbUi-0000Bl-00 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 25 Jan 2003 20:21:56 -0500 Original-Received: from mail by monty-python.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.10.13) id 18cbUb-0008Jz-00 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 25 Jan 2003 20:21:49 -0500 Original-Received: from rum.cs.yale.edu ([128.36.229.169]) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.10.13) id 18cbUM-0007kq-00 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 25 Jan 2003 20:21:34 -0500 Original-Received: (from monnier@localhost) by rum.cs.yale.edu (8.11.6/8.11.6) id h0Q1LXx18015; Sat, 25 Jan 2003 20:21:33 -0500 X-Mailer: exmh version 2.4 06/23/2000 with nmh-1.0.4 Original-To: "Robert J. Chassell" Original-cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1b5 Precedence: list List-Id: Emacs development discussions. List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Archive: List-Unsubscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+emacs-devel=quimby.gnus.org@gnu.org Xref: main.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:11069 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.devel:11069 > Moreover, over the past half millenium, printers have found that > people have difficulty swinging their eyes down to the next line when > the line is too long or when the between-line spacing is too wide or > too narrow. A fill-column of 70 works well with the usual > between-line spacing on a computer screen. (Shorter lines work well > with the usual between-line spacing of printed books.) Note that in source code, most lines don't start in column 0, so for a given line, the number of columns of text is not necessarily the same as the column of the rightmost char. I happen to think that 60 columns is more legible, but I also think that in most cases, source code that spans 80 columns is perfectly legible because almost none of the lines actually takes more than 60 columns of text. Also the non-constant indentation of the code also helps your eyes find the next line. And since I find vertical screen-real-estate to be at a premium, I advocate using all 80 columns for code (text is obviously another matter). Stefan