Why is 80 characters the 'standard' limit for code width?

Posted by pabloIMO on Tuesday May 15, 2012 @02:57PM
from the programmers.stackexchange.com dept.

http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/148677/why-is-80-characters-the-standard-limit-for-code-width

( 4 comments | 14 points | on HN )

Re:Why is 80 characters the 'standard' limit for code width? by jpterry on Tuesday May 15, 2012 @06:36PM (#3979287)

Relatedly, github insists on this width in both their language style guides and code windows on the web site. The VT100 had a 132 columns and was released 34 years ago!

Why are we still limiting code to 80 characters per line?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Why is 80 characters the 'standard' limit for code width? by ternaryoperator on Wednesday May 16, 2012 @03:25AM (#3980887)

I find 132 columns is too wide for code (Good for tabular data, but not for code.) I want something I can read by running my eyes down the code. For me, this means no more than about 90 characters. A width of 132 cols means I have to stop and read back and forth, making it impossible to scan for something. Of course, YMMV.

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Re:Why is 80 characters the 'standard' limit for code width? by naner on Tuesday May 15, 2012 @06:07PM (#3979153)

The highest-rated answer doens't explain anything... he just says that IBM's punch cards had 80 colums. What does that have to do with conventions for entering text in an editor?

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Re:Why is 80 characters the 'standard' limit for code width? by Someone on Tuesday May 15, 2012 @06:10PM (#3979173)

The card puncher was the editor.

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