PEP 8 : Maximum line Length :

[Rustom Mody]

On Thursday, May 15, 2014 4:23:52 AM UTC+5:30, Albert van der Horst wrote:
> 
> Rustom Mody  wrote:

> >80-character limit?!
> >Sheesh! A relic of the days when terminals were ASCII and 80x24
> 
> 
> 80 character was the hard limit.
> The soft limit for readability is 60..65 characters.
> Think about it.
> 
> 
> Just that a language accepts
> #define MASK_SEPIA_INTERNAL_BLEEDING_WASHINGTON_DC_BLACK 0x147800fa
> means that it is a good idea to do so.

Yes there are fundamental but soft limits, eg
http://webtypography.net/2.1.2

And there are (semi)hard technological limits like if you post code longer 65 
chars out here it will fold at random unforeseen points.
These limits get irrelevant as the technology changes.

If any of these has any relation with the magic number '79' I'd be
curious to know.

Until then may we relegate '79' to quaint historical curiosities like: 
Continuation in 6th column, Comment is a C in 1st column, 7-72 for code
(ALONG WITH ALL CAPS CODE)?