I'm curious if the 79-character line length standard is still relevant in modern programming environments. After ten years in Python, I've found I rarely encounter situations where this limit is beneficial. Instead, I often end up breaking expressions awkwardly due to this constraint. Are there any statistics, surveys, or just personal insights on what line lengths feel comfortable for most programmers today? Should we be aiming for limits like 100, 120, or even higher? This topic is especially important for those of us contributing to free and open-source software, so I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts.
1 Answer
I think line length should primarily be about readability, especially for viewing diffs. Some folks feel that around 80 characters is still optimal, as it allows for side-by-side views on laptops without scrolling. But personally, I find anything over 100 starts to become a challenge to track.
Absolutely! On a 1080p screen, keeping it around 80-100 characters works pretty well, especially when reviewing PRs on platforms like GitHub.