Tabs -vs- Spaces: Tabs should have won.

Roy Smith roy at panix.com
Sun Jul 17 20:28:40 EDT 2011


In article <mailman.1196.1310946970.1164.python-list at python.org>,
 Andrew Berg <bahamutzero8825 at gmail.com> wrote:

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> On 2011.07.17 06:29 PM, Roy Smith wrote:
> > We don't have that problem any more.  It truly boggles my mind that 
> > we're still churning out people with 80 column minds.  I'm willing
> > to entertain arguments about readability of long lines, but the idea 
> > that there's something magic about 80 columns is hogwash.
> I think the reason the idea isn't dead is because of the emergence of
> new devices with small displays (tablets/smartphones/etc.) and their
> increasing popularity. When writing code that is meant to be run on
> desktops or servers, the 80-column limit is mostly irrelevant, but
> Python running on these small devices, especially with Python code being
> interpreted rather than compiled, it's convenient to edit code on those
> platforms, where there is a significant column limit.

Can you give me a more specific example?  I assume there's nobody (at 
least nobody sane) editing Python source code on iPhones.  I'll admit 
I'm not that familiar with the plethora of tablets and handheld devices 
out there.  Are there really devices which impose exactly an 80-column 
width?



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