While the initial reason may be historical, I've found that on smaller monitors 80 character width makes it just about wide enough to have two code windows side-by-side. That's why I usually tend to stick to that limit. Though on bigger monitors I often stick to 100.
80 or 100 is both fine, but I prefer 80. Shorter lines are simply easier to read.
It just like reading a text online. Most people would prefer shorter lines, compared to one extremely long one. It's simply easier to keep track of where you are.
I usually use 100 or 120. It is very useful for having many windows on emacs on a 1920x1080 monitor. Also it is good for github. Anything bigger would need to scroll horizontally for reading the code and that sucks
I always thought that it was because you might need to read or edit a file on a dumb terminal while troubleshooting a problematic system (eg, from single user mode or a rescue disk)
If I am on 3270 or 5250 I have 80/132 but for the most part even when using the PC based editors we have I find no issues with 80 columns because even on the wide screen monitor I have information panels and such taking up space, plus I can easily side by side code.
I am also of the opinion that like names, when the line gets too long the readability goes out the door
Comments
While the initial reason may be historical, I've found that on smaller monitors 80 character width makes it just about wide enough to have two code windows side-by-side. That's why I usually tend to stick to that limit. Though on bigger monitors I often stick to 100.
80 or 100 is both fine, but I prefer 80. Shorter lines are simply easier to read.
It just like reading a text online. Most people would prefer shorter lines, compared to one extremely long one. It's simply easier to keep track of where you are.
I usually use 100 or 120. It is very useful for having many windows on emacs on a 1920x1080 monitor. Also it is good for github. Anything bigger would need to scroll horizontally for reading the code and that sucks
I always thought that it was because you might need to read or edit a file on a dumb terminal while troubleshooting a problematic system (eg, from single user mode or a rescue disk)
If I am on 3270 or 5250 I have 80/132 but for the most part even when using the PC based editors we have I find no issues with 80 columns because even on the wide screen monitor I have information panels and such taking up space, plus I can easily side by side code.
I am also of the opinion that like names, when the line gets too long the readability goes out the door