The Case Against Character Count Line Limits

compressedgas · 2025-04-03T18:11:01 1743703861

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.

smidgeon · 2025-04-03T08:08:14 1743667694

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.

sails01 · 2025-04-03T09:24:24 1743672264

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.