Re: Debian coding style?

[Stephen Zander <gibreel@pobox.com>]

>>>>> "Daniel" == Daniel Martin <Daniel.Martin@jhu.edu> writes:
    Daniel> I will actually point out that although the exact number
    Daniel> 80 is arbitrary, the general number "about 80" is not.

The reason for 80 chars is the Mr Hollerith decided that 80 columns
was all he needed to do the US census of 1889.  Everything after this
is inertia & the choices of the International Business Machines
Corp. that said Mr Hollerith founded.  It's not by accident that the
original IBM CRTs were 80 x 24; exactly two cards in size.

    Daniel> The issue is that that's the number of characters/line
    Daniel> that looks good to the human eye - typesetters know this;
    Daniel> open a book and count.  Too much longer than that (say,
    Daniel> 200 columns) and it becomes difficult when tracking your
    Daniel> eye all the way back to the left to find the right row.

This may be true; 80 chars is not directly tied to it.


-- 
Stephen
---
Long noun chains don't automatically imply security. - Bruce Schneier