From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: "Drew Adams" Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: RE: best to have max width of 79 or 80 in source code? Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2008 12:25:40 -0800 Message-ID: <001001c95329$d084d2e0$0200a8c0@us.oracle.com> References: <30ea20ec-ffcb-4ea1-a7d8-14e1caed696f@r36g2000prf.googlegroups.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1228076778 2629 80.91.229.12 (30 Nov 2008 20:26:18 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2008 20:26:18 +0000 (UTC) To: , Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sun Nov 30 21:27:00 2008 Return-path: Envelope-to: geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1L6ssb-0007aJ-8B for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Sun, 30 Nov 2008 21:26:57 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:43004 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1L6srR-0007rY-3Y for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Sun, 30 Nov 2008 15:25:45 -0500 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1L6sr5-0007pB-31 for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Sun, 30 Nov 2008 15:25:23 -0500 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1L6sr2-0007mA-MS for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Sun, 30 Nov 2008 15:25:21 -0500 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (port=39903 helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1L6sr2-0007ln-G8 for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Sun, 30 Nov 2008 15:25:20 -0500 Original-Received: from rcsinet13.oracle.com ([148.87.113.125]:33247 helo=rgminet13.oracle.com) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS-1.0:DHE_RSA_AES_256_CBC_SHA1:32) (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1L6sr1-00018O-IU for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Sun, 30 Nov 2008 15:25:20 -0500 Original-Received: from acsinet13.oracle.com (acsinet13.oracle.com [141.146.126.235]) by rgminet13.oracle.com (Switch-3.3.1/Switch-3.3.1) with ESMTP id mAUKPbJv014618 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=OK); Sun, 30 Nov 2008 20:25:39 GMT Original-Received: from acsmt703.oracle.com (acsmt703.oracle.com [141.146.40.81]) by acsinet13.oracle.com (Switch-3.3.1/Switch-3.3.1) with ESMTP id mAUKPW7H004457; Sun, 30 Nov 2008 20:25:34 GMT Original-Received: from dradamslap1 (/24.23.165.218) by default (Oracle Beehive Gateway v4.0) with ESMTP ; Sun, 30 Nov 2008 12:25:12 -0800 X-Mailer: Microsoft Office Outlook 11 In-Reply-To: <30ea20ec-ffcb-4ea1-a7d8-14e1caed696f@r36g2000prf.googlegroups.com> X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.3350 Thread-Index: AclTI4qJ1qH5U1feRPCiw8mijpNmHgABKJgA X-Source-IP: acsmt703.oracle.com [141.146.40.81] X-Auth-Type: Internal IP X-CT-RefId: str=0001.0A090205.4932F6AA.0059:SCFSTAT928724,ss=1,fgs=0 X-detected-operating-system: by monty-python.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.6 (newer, 1) X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:60263 Archived-At: > Many try to keep their source code to a max width of around 80. > Someone recommended 79 for some reason but I can't remember why. > Is it because you need to allow another column for newline? 79 is a prime choice. ;-) Punched ("IBM") cards had 80 columns (actually, the original Hollerith cards had 45 columns - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punched_cards). >From that, 80 became typical for max line length in code. In some languages, such as Fortan, it was (still is?) a hard line limit (but statements could be continued across multiple lines). Newline at line end does not count as a column, BTW.