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

Xiao-Yong Jin xj2106 at columbia.edu
Sat Apr 25 10:34:05 EDT 2009


Miguel Mitrofanov <miguelimo38 at yandex.ru> writes:

> On 24 Apr 2009, at 16:37, Loup Vaillant wrote:
>
>> 2009/4/23 Miguel Mitrofanov <miguelimo38 at yandex.ru>:
>>> On 23 Apr 2009, at 12:17, Thomas Davie wrote:
>>>
>>>> Haskell is a very horizontal language, and to limit our horizontal
>>>> space
>>>> seems pretty weird.
>>>
>>> +1. I sometimes use lines up to 200 characters long, when I feel
>>> they would
>>> be more readable.
>>
>> 200 sounds awfully long. Do you have any example?
>>
> Something like
>
> newtype MyCoolMonad = MyCoolMonad (FirstTransformer (SecondTransformer
> (ThirdTransformer Whatever))) deriving (Functor, Monad, FirstClass,
> SecondClass, ThirdClass, SomeOtherClass)
>
> Nobody would be really interested in "deriving" clause, because it
> basically says "derive everything possible". Therefore, it seems
> pointless to move it to another line.

You don't write lisp, do you?  Or probably it is just me.
But I would prefer to write the line as

newtype MyCoolMonad = MyCoolMonad (FirstTransformer
                                   (SecondTransformer
                                    (ThirdTransformer Whatever)))
    deriving (Functor, Monad,
              FirstClass, SecondClass, ThirdClass, SomeOtherClass)

It is just so much clearer than a one liner.  I'd like to
hear what people think about it, comparing to

newtype MyCoolMonad = MyCoolMonad (FirstTransformer (SecondTransformer (ThirdTransformer Whatever))) deriving (Functor, Monad, FirstClass, SecondClass, ThirdClass, SomeOtherClass)

(Yes, I rewrote it so it actually is in one line.  You email
editor clearly fooled you.)

P.S. I moved your reply down below the citation to make this
email easier to understand.
-- 
    c/*    __o/*
    <\     * (__
    */\      <


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