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Date: Tue, 30 Jul 2013 09:06:53 -0500
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Subject: Re: PEP8 79 char max
From: Skip Montanaro <skip@pobox.com>
To: Joshua Landau <joshua@landau.ws>
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Cc: Python <python-list@python.org>, Skip Montanaro <skip@pobox.com>
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Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.python:51559

> In that gauge I would exclude indentation (you don't count the
> number of characters the margin takes) ....

I don't think anyone reads the margins. :-)

That said, I agree that code and prose are fundamentally different
beasts.  Still, when reading either and you get to the end of the
line, you need to shift your gaze down a line and back to the left
margin (or the left margin plus any indentation).  That task becomes
more difficult as line length increases.

As programmers/software engineers, we need to read and write both code
and text. I think 80 columns is still a decent compromise.

Skip