[TUHS] 80 columns ...

[lm@mcvoy.com (Larry McVoy)]

On Wed, Nov 08, 2017 at 08:52:03PM +0000, ron minnich wrote:
> So, 80 column folks, would you find this
> a(b,
> c,
> d)
> 
> more readable than
> a(b,c,d)

yeah, I do.  I work on thinkpad x220 sized machines which are just big enough
for two 80 column windows with a little left over.  When I'm checking in code,
reviewing code, debugging code, I frequently want to see two versions of the
same file side by side.  If you code wider than 80 columns it greatly reduces
the speed at which you can figure out what happened.

So the question isn't what you said above, it's do you want to have to 
reach for the horizontal scrollbar constantly?  Maybe you do, I don't.

And you could say "get a higher res screen" which I'm doing, my 1920x1600
carbon x1 is on the way.  But

	(a) I still have lots of x220, x230 screens that are useful
	(b) I can't see a font smaller than what I'm using, the x1
	    will be 2 80 column windows next to each other.

All of this boils down to "do you optimize for the reader or optimize for
the writer".  Ron wants writer, I want reader.  Write once, read many.

--lm