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Genuine question: Do people still adhere to 80 character limits for lines? I expected that everyone would have relaxed those with all the extra resolution we ha

Genuine question: Do people still adhere to 80 character limits for lines? I expected that everyone would have relaxed those with all the extra resolution we have. I use 100 at work.

viraptor 11y ago
Yes. Some almost religiously.
lucaspiller 11y ago
I like using split panes in my editor: When I'm not at my desk, I can just fit two 80 character panes in. When I'm at my desk I can fit three! I don't follow it religiously, but I try and fit everything into 80 characters where possible (my editor has an indicator for the 80-character mark).
- mixmastamyk 11y ago
  Agreed, also I like to have a portrait monitor for code and browser, can see more without scrolling, so 80 helps.
- atinoda-kestrel 11y ago
  For me the big win with 80 is that I can easily do a side-by-side diff in my IDE without needing to expand the diff window at the expense of the outline, package, and other views. And horizontal scrolling in a diff view sucks. A lot.
notatoad 11y ago
I keep a ruler at 80char but treat it as a soft limit. It seems to work okay, functionally its probably about the same as a 100char limit but there's something psychologically better about being able to break the limit and not worry about it.
allannienhuis 11y ago
I often switch between working on my desktop and my laptop. keeping to a limit of about 80 characters makes it easier when working on the laptop. And as others have said, I often split screens when working on my desktop as well, so it helps there too. I also find that very long lines can be a code smell - deeply nested callbacks or a case of 'divitis' in html markup. When working with html, I find it convenient to put attributes on separate lines if there are more than a couple of short ones. This naturally helps keep line length down. Having them on separate lines helps with editing a bit too.

Genuine question: Do people still adhere to 80 character limits for lines? I expected that everyone would have relaxed those with all the extra resolution we have. I use 100 at work.

viraptor 11y ago

Yes. Some almost religiously.

lucaspiller 11y ago

I like using split panes in my editor: When I'm not at my desk, I can just fit two 80 character panes in. When I'm at my desk I can fit three! I don't follow it religiously, but I try and fit everything into 80 characters where possible (my editor has an indicator for the 80-character mark).

mixmastamyk 11y ago
Agreed, also I like to have a portrait monitor for code and browser, can see more without scrolling, so 80 helps.
atinoda-kestrel 11y ago
For me the big win with 80 is that I can easily do a side-by-side diff in my IDE without needing to expand the diff window at the expense of the outline, package, and other views. And horizontal scrolling in a diff view sucks. A lot.

notatoad 11y ago

I keep a ruler at 80char but treat it as a soft limit. It seems to work okay, functionally its probably about the same as a 100char limit but there's something psychologically better about being able to break the limit and not worry about it.

allannienhuis 11y ago

I often switch between working on my desktop and my laptop. keeping to a limit of about 80 characters makes it easier when working on the laptop. And as others have said, I often split screens when working on my desktop as well, so it helps there too. I also find that very long lines can be a code smell - deeply nested callbacks or a case of 'divitis' in html markup. When working with html, I find it convenient to put attributes on separate lines if there are more than a couple of short ones. This naturally helps keep line length down. Having them on separate lines helps with editing a bit too.