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It will help readability for the vast population of programmers who have 80 col editors or shells Isn’t that the premise that is being challenged here, though?

It will help readability for the vast population of programmers who have 80 col editors or shells Isn’t that the premise that is being challenged here, though? There’s plenty of variety in which editors and shells experienced programmers prefer to use, but do any of those tools really still have a hard 80 column limit in 2015? I would guess most developers now use screens that can show at least two (and often three or even four) source files side by side and still cope with longer lines than that, and I would guess most could switch their editor or shell to cope with those wider lines in a fraction of a second with a single keyboard shortcut. I can see cases where line length could still be a limiting factor, but I’m not sure giving up general readability improvements from allowing somewhat longer lines so it’s easier to do a three-way merge on a laptop with a smaller screen is a good trade.

sago 11y ago
Nobody is suggesting that people Can't view more than 80 cols. But many people have their machines and environments set up for 80 cols. They have their windows laid out based on the code they're writing, and then they load a new file and have to drag and resize their environment to accommodate you. If there's a way to change window size and position from 3 columns of 80 + a project browser into 120 col with a single keypress, then I'd like to know. It isn't a major problem, but it is an unnecessary problem. Nobody is forced to use long lines either, and if you want to lay out your environment to support 120 cols and you get my 80 col source code it will work without even a keypress or a second thought. You won't even notice it.
- Chris_Newton 11y ago
  If there's a way to change window size and position from 3 columns of 80 + a project browser into 120 col with a single keypress, then I'd like to know. In case it’s of any interest: I use Sublime Text as my main editor. One of its nice features is that you can switch how the window is divided up with a single keyboard shortcut or menu command (View -> Layout). You can also easily define custom layouts in addition to the standard 2/3/4 columns, 2/3 rows, and 2x2 grid. I usually run with the editor maximised on my largest screen and 2–4 different panes open. The one feature it’s missing in this area that I’d really like to have is similarly clean support for multiple windows and therefore multiple screens. I’m not an Emacs expert, but colleagues who use it regularly do seem to have similar features available. I also use a tool called WinSplit Revolution, which provides a somewhat similar feature for general Windows applications, letting you define some preset regions of your screen and then snap the current window to any of them with a quick keyboard shortcut. It can also shift windows between multiple monitors if you have them, again with a single quick shortcut. I can therefore instantly resize windows for things like shells, history/diff tools, and so on if I need them to be a bit wider for whatever files I’m currently working with.

sago 11y ago

Nobody is suggesting that people Can't view more than 80 cols. But many people have their machines and environments set up for 80 cols. They have their windows laid out based on the code they're writing, and then they load a new file and have to drag and resize their environment to accommodate you. If there's a way to change window size and position from 3 columns of 80 + a project browser into 120 col with a single keypress, then I'd like to know. It isn't a major problem, but it is an unnecessary problem. Nobody is forced to use long lines either, and if you want to lay out your environment to support 120 cols and you get my 80 col source code it will work without even a keypress or a second thought. You won't even notice it.

Chris_Newton 11y ago
If there's a way to change window size and position from 3 columns of 80 + a project browser into 120 col with a single keypress, then I'd like to know. In case it’s of any interest: I use Sublime Text as my main editor. One of its nice features is that you can switch how the window is divided up with a single keyboard shortcut or menu command (View -> Layout). You can also easily define custom layouts in addition to the standard 2/3/4 columns, 2/3 rows, and 2x2 grid. I usually run with the editor maximised on my largest screen and 2–4 different panes open. The one feature it’s missing in this area that I’d really like to have is similarly clean support for multiple windows and therefore multiple screens. I’m not an Emacs expert, but colleagues who use it regularly do seem to have similar features available. I also use a tool called WinSplit Revolution, which provides a somewhat similar feature for general Windows applications, letting you define some preset regions of your screen and then snap the current window to any of them with a quick keyboard shortcut. It can also shift windows between multiple monitors if you have them, again with a single quick shortcut. I can therefore instantly resize windows for things like shells, history/diff tools, and so on if I need them to be a bit wider for whatever files I’m currently working with.