Re: max line length

[Robin Vowels <robin.vowels@gmail.com>]

On Wednesday, April 20, 2022 at 5:30:42 AM UTC+10, Jeffrey R.Carter wrote:
> On 2022-04-18 23:58, Thomas wrote: 
> > 
> > how do you set your max line length?
> I use the Preferences menu selection in my editor. But that's probably not what 
> you intended to ask. I set mine to 132 characters.
> > using indentations a lot, i find that 80 is short. 
> > but I don't realize how many people I'm going to disturb if I set a 
> > greater length, because I don't know all your uses.
.
> When I started out, source lines were limited to 80 columns because that was the 
> length of punched cards,
.
What luxury!  All the languages on our computer used only 32 columns of the card.
.
> but the line printers could print 132 columns.
.
120 and 132 columns were common.
Our Analex 1100 lines/min printer had 160 columns, so it was possible to print a source listing
(80/80 listing) with two sets per page.
.
> In the 
> 1980s printing switched from 14 x 11 inch paper in line printers to 8.5 x 11 
> inch paper, but it was still possible to print 132 characters in landscape mode, 
> so that's what I used if I had an editor that could handle long lines easily 
> (screens were not large enough or high enough resolution to be suitable for 
> reading programs, so I still tended to print them when that was needed. Today 
> printing is not needed much, but I continue to use 132 columns. If others want a 
> different line length they may reformat it.