Is 78 characters still a good option? Was: [Haskell-cafe] breaking too long lines

[Haroldo Stenger]

Hi, i hate those html forms that show you [haskell,python] code in a narrow
box that is suposed to make the code clear, but it darkens the code by
cutting it.
Maybe having all lines shorter helps, but the "narrow window" effect is
chasing us nonsensely.-

haroldo

2009/4/21 Richard Kelsall <r.kelsall at millstream.com>

> Dusan Kolar wrote:
> ...
>
>> Or is the reason much deeper? Or, is the bound set to 78 characters just
>> because it is as good number as any other?
>>
> ...
> As a little historical detour I think the 80 character limit goes back
> to 1928 when IBM designed their punched card format
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punched_card#IBM_80_column_punch_card_format
>
> I guess it subsequently got embedded into printing and screen widths
> and related software. The slightly less than 80 characters allows for
> CR LF characters.
>
>
> Richard.
>
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