Re: Changing line widths in the Emacs source code

[Amin Bandali]

Óscar Fuentes writes:

> Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:
>
>> Now for the most controversial suggestion of all: Make the Emacs code
>> wider!
>>
>> Emacs has tried to keep the line width of the source code at 80
>> characters since Emacs was created.  It was a good choice (perhaps the
>> only) back then, but most screens are wide and short these days, and the
>> folding contortions we have to do to make everything fit in 80
>> characters is sometimes annoying, and leads to code that's awkward to
>> read.
>>
>> So my suggestion is: Change the default to 100.
>
> My difficulties for understanding Emacs sources are not related to
> formatting to comply with the max line width rule, but to excessive
> nesting levels and overly long functions.
>
> Increasing line width is the wrong approach to fix this deeper problem,
> because it would make it worse.

Well said, I agree.

Also, as touched on by the others, the current line width allows me to
read two code windows side-by-side comfortably on my trusty X200, where
~160 characters fit on the screen horizontally.  Bumping the limit up to
100 characters would certainly take that away or make it much harder.

I'm in favour of keeping the line limits as they are for the time being.

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