Subj : Re: Is well written code a rare species ? To : comp.programming From : Gerry Quinn Date : Tue Aug 16 2005 12:04 pm In article <4300e9cb$0$32733$da0feed9@news.zen.co.uk>, ffffh.no.spam@hotmail-spammers-paradise.com says... > "Chris Sonnack" wrote in message > news:pfh1g1hu081sf38mdaoq28u8i21tkqcq6t@4ax.com... > > Joe Butler writes: > > > > > Your book example is a classic non-sequitur. Books have nothing > > > to do with code layout... > > > > Well, the connection--which has already been discussed, I beleive-- > > is just that overly long lines are harder on the eyes than short ones. > > Newspapers are printed in columns, in part, for that very reason. > > > Yes, I agree. But I'm suggesting that an arbitarily-chosen cut-off is > counter productive. I don't think anyone is claiming that the normal > distribution for readability and other good metrics is centered at 80 > columns - which is why I find it so difficult to accept this rule. I would consider 80 columns a ridiculously low limit (for C++ anyway, it may be different for some languages, though probably not many - APL might be one). Anyone who thinks it is even worthy of consideration should take the time to learn about descriptive variable names and the use of indentation and whitespace to improve readability. - Gerry Quinn .