3 ms·

It's actually 79 chars. > the standard number of columns on a terminal are inherited from punched cards. https://stackoverflow.com/a/4651037/257493 https://s

by bdg 6y ago

It's actually 79 chars. > the standard number of columns on a terminal are inherited from punched cards. https://stackoverflow.com/a/4651037/257493 https://stackoverflow.com/a/4651037/257493 But in 2021 I can resize my TTY Emulator, we have better fonts, and screen proportions have changed. A column length of 80 is in the ancestral DNA of computers because it was the number that packed nicely onto a sheet of paper. That paper was that size because it fit nicely into a paper portfolio and filing cabinet. The portfolio was that size because it was a reasonably big-enough sheet to adjust the paper cutter to. 80 has nothing to do with humans reading code. It's all post-hoc justifications and fairy tales. The whole thing is a 200 year old legacy system bug.

CivBase 6y ago
> we have better fonts, and screen proportions have changed. I have two 24" 1920x1200 monitors which I develop with. Just three or four years ago I and most of my coworkers didn't even have that. When I open VS Code in full screen using the default font size and two editors split vertically on my 24" monitor, I can fit 90 characters per line before I have to start scrolling horizontally. If I hide the side bar, I can fit 110 characters per line. If I reduce the font size to one which is barely tolerable, I can fit 114 characters per line with the side bar. I can finally fit a full 135 characters per line if I hide the side bar with the tiny font size. If I snap VS Code to one half of my monitor with the default font and one editor and the side bar open, I can barely fit 80 characters per line. If I close the side bar, I can fit 110 characters per line. If I open a JetBrains IDE using the default font size, no side bar, and two editors split vertically, I can fit 107 characters per line before I have to scroll. If I do a full screen side-by-side diff with the IDE, I can fit 108 characters per line on each side. If I open a side-by-side diff in Bitbucket in a full screen browser at the default zoom level, I can fit about 85 characters per line on each side with the side bar open. If I collapse the side bar, I can fit about 108 characters per line on each side. Of the environments I work in every day, the only ones which support 120 characters per line with comfortable font sizes and without consuming more than half the screen are Beyond Compare and Vim. Most of them don't even support 100 characters per line without making compromises and none of them support 160 characters per line.
d0mine 6y ago
Human brains are the same or worse (smaller) for 100_000 years or more. What do you think is easier to read: one long line or the same text in columns with a suitable width? What do you think this width would be? The optimal width may depend on the language e.g., I'd use >1.5x for Java, to get the same information density per line as in Python. Your eyes/working memory don't scale with the width of your monitor.

by bdg 6y ago

CivBase 6y ago

> we have better fonts, and screen proportions have changed. I have two 24" 1920x1200 monitors which I develop with. Just three or four years ago I and most of my coworkers didn't even have that. When I open VS Code in full screen using the default font size and two editors split vertically on my 24" monitor, I can fit 90 characters per line before I have to start scrolling horizontally. If I hide the side bar, I can fit 110 characters per line. If I reduce the font size to one which is barely tolerable, I can fit 114 characters per line with the side bar. I can finally fit a full 135 characters per line if I hide the side bar with the tiny font size. If I snap VS Code to one half of my monitor with the default font and one editor and the side bar open, I can barely fit 80 characters per line. If I close the side bar, I can fit 110 characters per line. If I open a JetBrains IDE using the default font size, no side bar, and two editors split vertically, I can fit 107 characters per line before I have to scroll. If I do a full screen side-by-side diff with the IDE, I can fit 108 characters per line on each side. If I open a side-by-side diff in Bitbucket in a full screen browser at the default zoom level, I can fit about 85 characters per line on each side with the side bar open. If I collapse the side bar, I can fit about 108 characters per line on each side. Of the environments I work in every day, the only ones which support 120 characters per line with comfortable font sizes and without consuming more than half the screen are Beyond Compare and Vim. Most of them don't even support 100 characters per line without making compromises and none of them support 160 characters per line.

d0mine 6y ago

Human brains are the same or worse (smaller) for 100_000 years or more. What do you think is easier to read: one long line or the same text in columns with a suitable width? What do you think this width would be? The optimal width may depend on the language e.g., I'd use >1.5x for Java, to get the same information density per line as in Python. Your eyes/working memory don't scale with the width of your monitor.