From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,FREEMAIL_FROM autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Thread: 103376,429176cb92b1b825 X-Google-NewGroupId: yes X-Google-Attributes: gida07f3367d7,domainid0,public,usenet X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,UTF8 Path: g2news2.google.com!news4.google.com!feeder.news-service.com!feeder.news-service.com!94.75.214.39.MISMATCH!aioe.org!not-for-mail From: =?utf-8?Q?Yannick_Duch=C3=AAne_=28Hibou57?= =?utf-8?Q?=29?= Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: AWS Coding Styles (and about boring plain-linear text files in the end) Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2011 23:03:58 +0100 Organization: Ada @ Home Message-ID: References: <3077fffa-eed7-4763-8bca-9ac3bb0a41e1@o14g2000prn.googlegroups.com> <82y66ihc0i.fsf@stephe-leake.org> <4d355532$0$6878$9b4e6d93@newsspool2.arcor-online.net> <8b58b9da-a014-4a0e-8d20-ca86a4993961@h17g2000pre.googlegroups.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: 59xjXE7stDARAmb8zI1USw.user.speranza.aioe.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed; delsp=yes Content-Transfer-Encoding: Quoted-Printable X-Complaints-To: abuse@aioe.org X-Notice: Filtered by postfilter v. 0.8.2 User-Agent: Opera Mail/11.00 (Win32) Xref: g2news2.google.com comp.lang.ada:17503 Date: 2011-01-18T23:03:58+01:00 List-Id: Le Tue, 18 Jan 2011 16:45:42 +0100, Adam Beneschan a = =C3=A9crit: > Good point. This is the 21st century, technology has advanced to the > point where it shouldn't be difficult to do this. Of course, maybe > that case should be made by someone who isn't using a 1970s editor and= > sticking to a traditional line width based on punch cards. :) :) Just wanted to underline again what Pascal Obry also said (and I fully = agree with, and others too) : the line length limitation is not due to a= ny = inheritance from old and obsolete systems, this has ergonomic motivation= s. = He pointed the example of news-paper. The typical width of a news paper = or = magazine text is even lower : 40 or 50 characters width is a common = layout. If you doubt, then a question : where do you think these old = systems get this default screen width of 80 characters ? You think they = = were not able to do it wider ? Answer : from the ergonomic principle = stated above. 80 characters width was not due to technical limitations, = = this was a target specification. Now, to go further: terminal may also be used to draw nice text-UI = (especially with colored terminals). In this context, 80 characters is n= ot = enough, because then the UI eats on the width which is expected to be = available for the text. To ease text UI, there use to be wider standard = = (120 characters if my mind is right, 120 characters is really better for= a = MidnightCommander). Also about the 40 or 50 characters of typical = newspapers and magazines: the width used in miscellaneous computer sourc= e = texts (C, SGML, FORTRAN), was larger I suppose for the requirement of = indentations, which also eats on the text width too. Then, there is the = = reason of longer word in typical computer texts, because these are longe= r = composite word, with no space (i.e. =E2=80=9CThis unavoidable object=E2=80= =9D vs = =E2=80=9CThis_Unavoidable_Object=E2=80=9D). If there is an area where we still unfortunately stick to old obsolete = systems, the is not about text width, this about two other points: 1) = ASCII heritage vs Unicode (using either Emacs or VIM for multi-language = = text files is simply *impossible* most of the time, while OTH, the basic= = NotePad of Windows 98 is perfectly able in this area). 2) Raw linear tex= t = (this gonna be the subject of a coming topic I will later opened, coming= = in a few days=E2=80=A6 I've not yet finished to write it). With these two points, and especially the second (the first slowly evolv= e, = except with some old editors), we, indeed are really sticked in the past= ; = not with line length which must be limited. However, your comment makes me think about another argument for the topi= c = I will open a later day. Thanks for that. -- = Si les chats miaulent et font autant de vocalises bizarres, c=E2=80=99es= t pas pour = les chiens. =E2=80=9CI am fluent in ASCII=E2=80=9D [Warren 2010]