I can see both sides. I hate it when code is all over the place, different files indented in different ways, no consistency on bracket placement, etc. But then again, I just hate it when rules grow so strict you can't ever break them. For example when line like this in strictly-pep8-compiliant codebase:
return "some very long string"
is exactly 81 characters long. I'd much rather place some "# ignore this" comment on it than break a line there, forcing a "\" after return.
Genuine question: Do people still adhere to 80 character limits for lines? I expected that everyone would have relaxed those with all the extra resolution we have. I use 100 at work.
I often switch between working on my desktop and my laptop. keeping to a limit of about 80 characters makes it easier when working on the laptop. And as others have said, I often split screens when working on my desktop as well, so it helps there too.
I also find that very long lines can be a code smell - deeply nested callbacks or a case of 'divitis' in html markup.
When working with html, I find it convenient to put attributes on separate lines if there are more than a couple of short ones. This naturally helps keep line length down. Having them on separate lines helps with editing a bit too.
For me the big win with 80 is that I can easily do a side-by-side diff in my IDE without needing to expand the diff window at the expense of the outline, package, and other views. And horizontal scrolling in a diff view sucks. A lot.
I keep a ruler at 80char but treat it as a soft limit. It seems to work okay, functionally its probably about the same as a 100char limit but there's something psychologically better about being able to break the limit and not worry about it.
