The Case Against Character Count Line Limits

blog.lohr.dev

1 pointmichidk3 comments

The entire point of a character line length limit is so that a diff doesn't have wrapping lines on a terminal. And so that most changes become line insertions or deletions rather than modifications of lines.

It probably all started with typewriters (and teleprinters).

Nope, it started with books where 500 years of typographic practice has taught us that anything above 80 characters a line quickly becomes unreadable.

Code is not read like a book, so not clear how relevant is that argument.

In my case being able to read more significant lines in one go, clearly helps me navigate and understand code better.

And I let my IDE (Jetbrains) to the wrapping based on the actual width of the editor windows at any time, it works really well.

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